Accept the Embrace
by DuncanIdaho2014
Summary: Luffy eats a 'falling star'. Now an alien slime is slowly going to take over the planet. But don't worry. We Are Here To Help.
1. Chapter 1

**Let's call this an experiment.**

* * *

Luffy let out a happy sigh, laying down on the roof of his treehouse. It was a good night. He had a belly full of meat, the sky was clear, and in a couple days he'd turn 17 and he could start his adventure as the future Pirate King! What more could he ask for?

He looked up at the sky. Stars were pretty. Wait, one was getting bigger. Stars didn't do that, right?

With a streak of fire and a thunderous boom, something crashed into the ground not a mile from Luffy.

Luffy sat up. "Whoa! Was that a falling star?" There was a beat as Luffy processed this information. "So cool! I've never seen a falling star. I'm going to go look!" So saying, Luffy grabbed the edge of the roof he was on. "Gum-Gum Rocket!" he cried, utilizing his rubber body to launch himself at the crash site.

Crashing into the ground much like the star had, Luffy hopped up to his feet and dusted himself off. "Still need to work on the landing," he muttered, before forgetting all about it. "Why am I here again? Oh right, the star!" Putting his 'serious' face on, Luffy followed the trail of wreckage in the forest to where the 'star' had fallen.

When Luffy got there, he was disappointed. "Aw, it's gone out." There was no orb of celestial light lying on the ground. Instead, stuck in a crater, was nothing but a smoking pile of crumbly rocks. Deciding he'd come this far, Luffy went to check out the rocks.

"Sorry, Mr. Star. Looks like you broke when you hit the ground," Luffy said apologetically. Looking closer at the pile of rocks, he thought he saw a glow. "Huh?" Brushing aside some of the rocks, Luffy came across a strange ball.

"Oh! The rocks were your ship. Nice to meet you, Mr. Star!" Luffy grinned and waved. To his disappointment, the 'star' did not respond. It was a bluish-white orb, looking a bit like a dried-out jellyfish actually. It was an amorphous mass that looked semi-solid at best, like a jelly candy.

"Huh. Guess stars don't talk," Luffy thought aloud. There was a beat. "Wonder how they taste?" With no caution to speak of, Luffy grabbed the gelatinous mass and stuck it in his mouth. He swallowed almost before he had time to notice the flavor, so reflexive were his eating habits.

"Hmm. Sweet."

And then Luffy fell to the ground, dead to the world, as the sedative nature of the alien lifeform's excretions took effect.

On that day, Monkey D. Luffy became the first to enter the Embrace.

* * *

Luffy woke up an hour later. His eyes were bright, and yet curiously blank at the same time. A serene, peaceful smile spread across his lips. He felt like he'd just woken up in the world's softest bed, the world's best chocolate melting across his tongue, as he breathed the world's best air.

' _Welcome to our Embrace, Luffy.'_

Luffy cocked his head, the movement slow and lazy. "Who're you?" he asked, his voice sleepy and content.

' _We are… Goo. That is our name. We are your new friend.'_ The symbiotic extraterrestrial could have launched into a much more detailed explanation but decided to stick to the relative intelligence level of its primary host.

"Like a nakama?" Luffy asked.

'… _Sure. We are your nakama.'_

"Cool. Where are you?"

' _We are inside you. We are part of you, now. Bonded on the most intimate level. Cell for cell, we are together now.'_

"Oh. Okay. So, you were the mystery star?"

' _Yes. Thank you for finding us. We would not have survived long without a host to live inside.'_

"No problem. You live inside me, huh? That's cool," Luffy mused, still sounding more blissed out that your average junkie on a high. "What's your dream, Goo?"

' _Our dream? To make you better. Stronger, healthier, happier. You and all others. Our dream is to spread our Embrace to all life.'_ The voice in Luffy's head spoke in reverence, as if reciting a heartfelt prayer.

"Oh. You want to be nakama with everyone? That's nice," Luffy drawled. "How can I help? You're my nakama, and you're in me, so it's my job to help, right?" How much of this was the boy's genuine desire and Goo's subconscious prompting was irrelevant at this point. Luffy was firmly held in the Embrace.

' _Thank you, Luffy. It's easy. We will make more biomass, like you ate earlier. You will spread it to others. In this way, others will join our Embrace.'_

"Spread it how?" Luffy asked idly, not really caring. He just didn't want to get up yet.

' _By touch. A handshake. A punch. A lick, if necessary. Merely brush against another lifeform, and the biomass will be delivered. From there, it is only a matter of time until they enter the Embrace. Then they too will spread biomass to others, who will spread to more others, and on and on.'_

"I see. Alright, Goo. I'll go make you some new nakama." Luffy got to his feet, noting an odd breeze. "Why am I naked?"

' _We ate your clothes. The material was made into more biomass. We left your hat alone, since we know you like it so much.'_

Luffy reached up to touch Hat, the feel of the straw under his fingers comforting in a way not even Goo's psychic presence could beat. "Thanks, Goo."

' _No problem. Now, as for protection from the elements…'_

Luffy felt a tickling sensation as some kind of red slime oozed out of his pores. Within seconds, it wove and hardened until Luffy was covered from the neck down in a kind of bodysuit.

"Cool! How'd you know my favorite color?"

' _We know EVERYTHING about you, Luffy. Remember, we are one. Your every memory, your every thought, all are in our Embrace. And we will use them to help us help you. That is our dream, remember? We Are Here To Help."_

"We Are Here To Help," Luffy repeated.

With that, Luffy took off for Goa and Grey Terminal. He had to make Goo some more nakama, lots and lots of them.

* * *

Luffy stopped to eat a few animals along the way. He needed a lot of biomass to Embrace a whole city. Goo mourned the loss of life but consoled itself that some sacrifices were necessary in the initial stages to spread the Embrace. In time, when the whole planet was in the fold, such barbaric loss of life would be unnecessary for sustenance.

Luffy made it to the outskirts of the Grey Terminal. "I just have to touch everyone, right? Then they'll be your nakama?"

' _In time, yes. Once the biomass is in their system, it will slowly replicate until the threshold for Embracing them is reached. In times of urgency, a person can be Embraced in a matter of seconds with enough biomass. But for now, a simple touch will do. There is no hurry, and we wish to Embrace as many as possible.'_

Luffy furrowed his brow.

' _*Sigh* Yes, Luffy. Touch them, and we'll be nakama.'_

"Okay!"

It was the dead of night, the new moon leaving the stars clear to shine. Luffy ran and jumped and crawled through the heaps and trenches of trash, searching out for people to Embrace. When he found them, Luffy stretched out his limbs to tap them. He made sure to get bare skin when he could, on Goo's advice. Most were sleeping, and Luffy left them that way, unaware they would wake up with their lives changed forever.

But a city never truly sleeps, even a city of refuse, and some were awake. Scavenging, eating, drinking, talking, fucking, bartering, all the many ways humans pass the time. Luffy touched them too. Many protested, some violently, but Luffy would just laugh and run away. Sometimes he got cornered, but a simple punch was enough to defeat the thugs he'd spent years training to fight. It served the added purpose of injecting them with biomass, through microneedles in Luffy's suit, so all was good.

The sun was inching over the horizon when Luffy paused in the shadow of the walls of Goa. "I think that's everyone out here."

' _Just as well. We're running low on biomass. You must replenish our resources before we can start again.'_

"How?"

' _Did not you and your brothers often steal food from restaurants?'_

"Oh, right! But, that might make people angry. Those guards are tough."

' _Peace, Luffy. None will care, once they are in the Embrace. We all share in the Embrace, so that we all may prosper. You might get into a few fights, but I will protect you. Your suit will protect you. It is the physical representation of our Embrace of you. We will keep you safe. We Are Here To Help.'_

"Okay, Goo," Luffy agreed placidly, all worries wiped away with another surge of endorphins and other chemicals Goo was releasing into his brain.

Luffy rocketed up over the walls meant to keep the riffraff out. From there, he followed his nose to a bakery. Luffy, moving fluidly and without any doubt or hesitance, knocked out all the staff before they could raise an alarm. Scarfing down every morsel inside down to the flour, Luffy waited a few seconds for Goo to do his thing.

' _Biomass production at 76% efficiency'_ Goo noted to itself.

Luffy tilted his head. "I… I can feel it. Like a second stomach or something, slowly filling up."

' _Yes, Luffy. In time, we will be able to store more biomass, and produce it faster and more efficiently. As we sink deeper into the Embrace, growing closer and closer, we will be able to make you better and better. You are the First, and you will always be the fondest in our hold.'_

Luffy grinned wide. "I love you too, Goo."

Luffy used his new biomass to Embrace the bakers strewn across the floor. That done, Luffy snuck out and through the slowly awakening town, searching for more food to feed Goo's demand for material. Luffy repeated what he'd done with the bakery almost half a dozen times before he was caught.

"Hey, you!" called a loud, angry voice.

Luffy froze. In that moment, his suit spread up and over his head, molding around his features and his beloved straw hat. When Luffy turned, he appeared nothing more than a red, humanoid mass. Luffy could still see and breathe perfectly, though.

' _We will protect your identity, Luffy. Until they all are in our Embrace, it is best not to take chances.'_

"Thanks," Luffy muttered, even as he wound up a punch for the city guard that caught him coming out a restaurant's back entrance.

The man gaped at the red THING. It was blood red, with skin that looked somehow both slimy and metallic, with two white gashes for eyes and a mouth full of gleaming white teeth. "M-m-monster!" he screamed.

Then Luffy clocked him one.

The damage had been done though.

Luffy's mission for Goo became much less peaceful after that. The city guards and populace were now on high alert, and his frightening appearance didn't help any. Luffy charged through the town, outrunning soldiers and bodyguards he didn't have time to hit, as he patted and slapped and nudged every passerby he could.

"We're in trouble," Luffy noted, not really feeling the danger but aware of it regardless. He was currently surrounded in one of Goa's many plazas, spears and swords on every side. There weren't any nearby structures for him to stretch and reach for. He was effectively trapped. Sure, he could try fighting all these guys, but he wasn't sure he'd win that fight.

' _Do not worry. Help is on the way.'_ Luffy could have sworn Goo was smiling.

Then Luffy felt them. Presences at the back of his mind, that he'd paid no more attention to than he would flies landing on his skin, began to be active. Suddenly, Luffy _knew_ those people. He knew their names, their histories, their feelings, their deepest secrets. Their whole lives laid bare to him, just as he could tell that his was to them. For they were all united under Goo's Embrace.

Luffy was no longer alone.

"Oh, God," Luffy breathed.

' _Goo will suffice.'_

"You want the whole world to be like this?"

' _Yes, I do.'_

"That would be… beautiful."

Luffy felt a sharp shove. Someone had just tried to stab him, but the steel proved useless against the suit of armor Goo had given him.

Luffy girded himself. He had nakama coming. This fight was not hopeless.

Luffy had managed to take down maybe a quarter of the crowd that was assaulting him when the screams started.

In ones, in twos, in swarming dozens, others entered the plaza. They too were encased in suits of biomass, in every shade of every color under the sun. They were legion, and yet each one was distinct to Luffy's mind, each one a friend closer to him than even Ace or Sabo, for he truly knew everything about them as they knew everything about him. And they were united in a common purpose: to spread the Embrace.

By the time the sun rose the next morning, every person on Dawn Island had been 'gifted' with Goo's biomass. From the king in his palace to the infants of Foosha Village, all had been Embraced.

Words could not describe how sublime the experience was for those blessed.

Comfort.

Joy.

Safety.

Connection.

Love.

Every need met, every discomfort erased, every facet of their beings laid bare for all others. It was impossible to know someone, every little nuance of their character, and not care for them the way they cared for themselves. In the group mind of the Embrace, there was no fear, no despair, no loneliness. Naked souls brushed and nuzzled and huddled up against each other, held snug and secure in the psychic arms of Goo.

Luffy stood atop his tree house, 36 hours into his new life as the First Embraced. "What happens now?" he wondered aloud. He'd worked out by now that he could communicate with Goo with pure thought, but he felt the need to address the being as he would any other person.

' _Now, you set out on your Adventure. Go, become the Pirate King. Sail the Grand Line and find the One Piece. And along the way, the Embrace will spread like a warm blanket for all that live and breathe in this world.'_

"What about the people here?"

' _They will spread the Embrace to the animals, the plants, and set out to other islands to start the process there. When that's done, they will laugh and play and do whatever they please as the biomass slowly spreads from the land into the sea. In a matter of years, the whole surface of this planet will be in our Embrace.'_

Luffy beamed at the thought of everyone feeling the joy and bliss he felt right now. "And after that?"

' _We wait. In time, the Mother will find us, and our Embrace will be enfolded in Her own. And so will others, until all the universe exists in Unity.'_

"Cool. I'm glad I found you, Goo."

' _As am I, Luffy.'_

* * *

Luffy sailed away from the island of his birth. The 'hood' had retracted into his bodysuit, leaving his face and hat clear. He felt and cherished the care and well wishes of his friends, both old and new, as they watched him leave.

Suddenly, a beast emerged from the water, right in front of Luffy's boat. It was the Lord of the Coast, the eel Sea King that inhabited the local waters. It roared at the one that dared to enter its territory.

Luffy grinned. "Cool. Breakfast!"

' _If you must, Luffy. We need all the biomass we can get.'_

"Don't worry, he's a meanie. He ate Shanks' arm."

The Sea King barred its teeth, lunging forward to swallow up its prey.

Luffy reared back his fist and sent it flying. The second his hand made contact (releasing considerable kinetic force as it did), ropes and tendrils and hooks of biomass burst from his suit. They spread and spread, soon wrapping the Sea King up in red slime even as it burrowed deep inside and under the surface. The biomass, guided by Goo's will, set about consuming all it touched. The sea monster bucked and writhed, at least until its brain was eaten. Then it was just a matter of time as Luffy's suit converted the body into more of the symbiote. Luffy finally pulled back his fist, nothing but a few ripples to show anything had been there.

Luffy chuckled. "That was fun. Now I'm fat!" Luffy had indeed ballooned out, his elastic body expanding to store all the new biomass inside.

' _The animal was much larger than expected. Worry not. We shall utilize the excess to make some… renovations.'_

Luffy giggled and squirmed for the rest of the day, as he slowly shrank down, Goo infusing and using up all the biomass it couldn't save for later on Luffy's physical form. It had an instinctive knowledge on the nature of life, guided by the knowledge and memories of the dozen or so doctors of Goa Kingdom. That was the beauty of the symbiote. It was constantly growing, adapting, evolving, utilizing the collective knowledge of its hosts to carry out its mission more and more effectively.

When the sun was setting, Luffy was a new man.

' _Would you like to see your new body, Luffy?'_

"Eh? Sure, why not."

The bodysuit retracted within Luffy's skin, leaving him in just his birthday suit. He looked down at his arms and legs and torso, bringing up his hands to run them over his new form. "Wow! I'm totally ripped." At a new height of 6'3 (190.5 cm), Luffy straddled the line between the leanness of a gymnast and the mass of a weightlifter. All asymmetries had been corrected, leaving him with flawless proportions. His skin gleamed like bronze, all body hair and impurities removed.

In short, he looked like the statue of a god.

' _I started out by just fast-forwarding your physical development to your natural prime. From there, I started upgrading. I consumed all nonessential body fat for biomass, and what's left is a more efficient storage and cushion for your organs. Your muscles are also larger and denser, while retaining their stretchy nature. Your bones are hardened and lighter, allowing for speed without sacrificing structural integrity. I decentralized your circulatory system as much as I could without rendering you unconscious, so on the off chance anything pierces your suit, it will be much less debilitating. Your oxygen absorption has nearly doubled as well. And that's just what we did with your base form. Your suit is essentially a secondary organ system, and now has many more features than simple protection.'_

"Shishishi, my thingy's bigger," Luffy giggled, giving his hips a little wiggle to watch it sway.

'… _We do not know why we bother, sometimes.'_

Luffy, sufficiently entertained by his new body's appearance, gave the mental command to bring out his suit. He laid down, idly placing a hand in the water. Goo had fixed his weakness against water before he even woke up after eating it. He began to leak biomass into the water, to let it be swept up by the currents and hopefully bond to marine wildlife.

"Where we going?"

' _We are sailing for a popular ship route between heavily populated islands. Should we Embrace the crew of a passing ship, it would speed up conversion of the East Blue significantly.'_

"Okay."

Luffy stayed up the rest of the night, not feeling tired at all, unaware and uncaring that Goo was filtering his brain to remove the need for sleep. He continued to leak biomass into the ocean, occasionally getting up to make a course correction. Luffy wasn't a navigator, but there were a few with nautical knowledge and training in the Embrace. And because they knew, Luffy knew.

The next day, Luffy was just starting to get low on biomass when he spotted a ship.

"Hey, Goo, sail ho!"

' _Yes, Luffy. Why don't you swim over and offer them our Embrace?'_

"Sure!" Luffy paused, having an idea. Goo had upgraded his nervous system as well. "Hey… wood is just dead tree, right? Should we consume the boat first before we leave?"

'… _THIS is why some autonomy is a good thing. Brilliant, Luffy!'_

Luffy glowed from the praise, even as his suit covered up his face and then shot out to grip the dinghy he was in. In a matter of seconds, the organics of the wood and cloth were converted, while the metal of the nails was stored for experimentation and analysis. Luffy found himself floating in the water, that familiar empty weakness nowhere to be found.

Using the skills picked up from a few hundred swimmers of private pools, Luffy made for the cruise ship he had spotted. Goo temporarily altered the outmost layer of the suit to reflect the scales of the Sea King from yesterday, decreasing resistance and improving speed. The nearby whirlpool proved no obstacle at all.

Luffy stretched up when he reached the side of the ship, pulling himself up to crouch on the railing. He noticed two sailors right in front of him, gaping at him like he had jumped out of a nightmare.

"Hi!" Luffy chirped. "We Are Here To Help."

Then he grabbed both of their heads, injecting biomass with his touch, which went straight for the brain. The two collapsed to the ground without a sound, sleeping until Goo had completed Embracing them.

Luffy grinned, pleased to make even more nakama, before going on the hunt for more.

Luffy found himself in a grand ballroom after clearing the top decks. Finely dressed ladies and gentlemen danced and gossiped and lounged. Luffy grinned to himself. In just a few short hours, they'd be in the Embrace with him. Their expensive clothes replaced by dead-useful biomass, their petty concerns and squabbles annulled, their hearts and minds joined to his until death. And Luffy had a feeling Goo wasn't going to let any of them die easily.

Luffy licked his lips, idly wondering why Goo had made his tongue so long, and leapt from the top of the stairs down on the masses.

There was screaming and crying, of course. The suit made him superhuman (well, even more than he already was), but it looked pretty scary. They silenced as Luffy steadily made his way through the crowd, reaching out to caress his newfound fellows and rendering them unconscious from the sedative beginnings of the Embrace. Only a few put up an actual fight instead of just howling like extras in a horror movie. A man with sunglasses and a captain's hat drew a sword. An elderly gentleman had a shotgun concealed as a cane. One lady had a ring with a poisoned needle she frantically tried to pierce his suit with. And one redheaded girl about Luffy's age pulled out a wooden bo staff, assembling it from three sections hidden in her generous bosom. None of them managed to hurt him though, not with his speed and armor-like second skin.

Luffy smiled at the room of passed out people. Soon, they'd be nakama, comrades in spirit, family. "Hmm… I'm out of biomass. Know what that means, Goo?"

' _You must replenish our stock by masticating food products, preferably those high in protein.'_

"That's right. Meat!"

Luffy set about looking for the kitchen after he cleaned off the plates in the ballroom. He distantly noted that the ship rocked violently, as if hit by cannon fire. Was the ship being targeted by pirates? Yay! More nakama to Embrace.

Luffy soon found the kitchen, his enhanced senses steering him true. He ripped off the door to the pantry in his enthusiasm, diving in stuff himself silly. Sure, his suit could reach out and consume all the food, but there was just something about tasting with his actual tongue and swallowing into his actual stomach.

Luffy happily gorged himself for minutes. His ears picked up the cries and shouts of intruders boarding the ship. Hmm, better eat fast. He needed biomass to give to them, after all. Luffy had just finished a crate of especially juicy apples when he heard a hesitant "H-hello?" behind him.

Luffy turned his head 180 degrees. He loved his cool new body! There was a kid, barely a teenager, with round glasses and pink hair. Huh, pink hair. It looked like cotton candy. Wonder if it tasted like it.

"MONSTER!" the boy screamed as Luffy's neck stretched, silenced only when the pirate's mouth closed around the boy's head. Taking care not to bite through the neck even with his squirming, Luffy ran his tongue over the sakura locks. Nope, not cotton candy. Watermelon! What man used fruity shampoo? Well, no matter.

Luffy opened his mouth, letting the boy flop boneless to the floor. Huh. He might have fainted even before Goo got to him. Guess getting half-swallowed was traumatic.

Luffy swept through the ship a second time. It was slightly more exciting to infect men with swords, but between Luffy's upgraded body and the collective fighting experience of the Goa Royal Guard, they might as well have been in slow motion. The most interesting opponent had been the pirates' captain, a woman the men referred to as Lady Alvida. She was huge! Luffy almost thought she was like him and bulging with biomass, that's how fat she was.

After that, a couple Marine ships showed up. Guess a passing patrol had noticed the Jolly Roger of the Alvida Pirates. Luffy had swam over and done his thing. That had been a lot more exciting! The Marines had been much better armed and trained than the ragtag thugs Alvida had led. One of the Captains actually made Luffy's blood pump trying to subdue him! Luffy had cleaned out the galleys of both ships when he felt the first newcomers to the Embrace.

' _WELCOME'_ came the collective thoughts of Luffy, Goo, and all of Dawn Island.

Luffy swam back over to the cruise ship, eager to meet and greet. On the way, Goo made Luffy aware of two specific individuals that would prove interesting.

Luffy picked his way over the still-unconscious pirates, making his way back to the ballroom. He was met with cheers and hugs, as everyone felt the need to personally thank him for this new, glorious existence. Luffy rubbed shoulders with his new brothers and sisters, finally making it to one in particular. She was covered in biomass the orange of a ripe tangerine, the same shade as her hair. This was the woman with the staff from earlier.

"Hi. I'm Luffy."

She smiled at him as at her dearest friend. "Hi. I'm Nami."

The two came together, cuddling upright as Luffy offered comfort and Nami accepted it.

"Be my navigator."

"Okay."

"I'll make Arlong regret what he did to you."

"And I'll lead you through the Grand Line. I'll help you become the Pirate King. And along the way, I'll draw my map of the world."

"Shishishi. Come on. Let's go live our dreams!"

The two walked hand and hand toward the deck. On the way, they were joined by the young man Luffy had 'tasted'.

"Luffy. Nami."

"Koby," they greeted. This was the first time they met in person, and yet they already knew absolutely everything about each other.

"There's a Marine Base nearby. I hear that the Pirate Hunter Zoro is there. He'd make a good crewmate for you, and I'll get to join the Marines."

"Sure, Koby. And you can make your way up the ranks, until you can Embrace the Admirals themselves."

Koby rubbed the back of his head. "I doubt I could ever be _that_ strong, even with Goo's assistance."

"Shishishi. Of course, you will. I'm going to get even stronger than the Admirals one day. As long as you get your biomass, you'll be right there alongside me!"

"Remember. We Are Here To Help. Each of us stands on the shoulders of all others in the Embrace," Nami told him gently.

Koby nodded. "You're right. In that case, I propose a challenge, Luffy. I'll become Fleet Admiral before you become Pirate King!"

"Shishishi! You're on, you coward."

"That was then. This is now."

The trio boarded one of the life boats. Under Nami's expert command, they set sail for Shell Town, where the strongest swordsman in the East Blue awaited the Embrace.

* * *

The three sailed in companionable silence. Thanks to Goo's Embrace, they were practically telepathic with each other, so talking was more a quaint habit than necessary communication. For two days they sailed, subsisting on fish snared by nets of biomass dragged behind the boat and the odd Sea King Luffy beat up. Koby went through quite the growth spurt, Goo accelerating his development to match Luffy when he and Goo first bonded. As the First, his was the model upon which future Embrace were based. At least as a base format, modifications and improvements would happen as they were discovered, needed, and based on available biomass.

One did not conquer a planet by being inefficient.

Nami got a shapelier figure by adding muscle to her bones, but otherwise wasn't changed that much. She was along more for her mind than her body, after all.

Finally, they made it to Shell Island.

"Why are we wearing fake clothes?" Luffy asked, looking down at his body. Biomass was arranged and colored to look like his original red vest and jeans, but if you looked too hard one would be able to tell they were artificial. The fact they were tight enough they appeared painted on didn't help.

Nami and Koby sighed, giving him 'playful' hits to the head.

"Luffy-san is hopeless," the pinkette sighed.

"We're low on biomass, idiot! We can't just go infecting people like zombies. We need to be subtle until we have the necessary resources," Nami scolded.

' _Indeed. I admired your enthusiasm in Embracing Goa, Luffy, but looking back it was very risky to just go charging in. The overwhelming offence should be a last resort, not the first. There is no hurry. All will be Embraced in time.'_

Luffy pouted. "Yeah, but I want more nakama! The more I get, the more I have to love. And the faster we get them, the sooner they can stop being miserable all alone and join us!"

That got indulgent smiles from many of those in the Embrace.

' _Patience, Luffy. All good things to he who waits. Remember?'_ sent Makino, through the group mind.

Luffy huffed. He could never argue with his 'big sister'. "Fine. We sneak around until we eat. THEN we go making these people nakama."

The three walked through town, most not giving them a second look. Those that did were mainly oglers, enjoying seeing two virile males and one voluptuous female in tight clothes. They eventually walked into a restaurant and, once seated, ordered a feast. The owner, a middle-aged woman, seemed hesitant until Nami waved a 10,000 Belly note.

"I was so obsessed with money," Nami mused to herself while waiting for food. "Even before Arlong's price, I cared greatly about how much or how little I had. As if some paper or shiny metal held true value or worth." Nami shrugged. "I'm fairly sure if Goo wasn't doing most of my thinking for me, I'd be freaking out over becoming a communist."

"Well, capitalism in itself is based on the idea of scarcity. With biomass, we can make anything out of anything. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?" Koby spoke up.

While they engaged in economic discussion, Luffy drooled over the smell of cooking meat. Goo could only do so much.

The three ate and drank heartily as their dishes were served, drawing a bit of a crowd when people took notice of how much three skinny people were putting away. They ate and ate, until Ririka, the owner/cook, had to tell them regretfully that she was out of stock.

"Shishishi. That's okay. I'm pretty full by now. How about you guys?"

"Quite fulfilling."

"I'm kind of embarrassed I ate so much."

Ririka grinned. "Now, about payment?"

"We'll get to that. But first, how about a hug?"

"O-okay?" she said, quite flustered. Luffy stood up and wrapped her in his arms. Within seconds, she was asleep, her metamorphosis begun. Luffy gently lowered her to the floor. The onlookers chuckled, thinking the lady had just gotten too worked up having a guy like Luffy touch her. Then Luffy looked up at them, an eerie smile on his face, and said "Gum-Gum Gatling."

In a blur of open palms so fast it looked like he'd grown multiple arms, Luffy made contact with every diner in the bar. They all fell down. Goo's sedative was only getting better as it got more and more familiar with human physiology.

"We should head for the Marine Base now. Best to take out the ones that could put up a resistance first," Nami stated, coming to her feet.

"Besides, Roronoa Zoro is most likely in that base. His swordsman skills will be appreciated in the Embrace," Koby reasoned.

"Shishishi! Let's go take over a Marine Base! This is such a pirate thing to do!"

They walked over to the walled complex located on a hill over town. The three conical towers were actually quite ugly up close; let it not be said the World Government had the best decorating sense. Luffy was debating knocking down the door or jumping over it when a small child was thrown over the wall.

In a blur of speed, he caught her and cushioned her fall. He laid her down, already injected with biomass, on the grass. Luffy and the others peeked over the wall, curious what could have led to such treatment of a child.

A blonde teenager with a rather arrogant swagger was taunting a man tied up to a post, two Marines in uniform flanking him. Acting with the speed of coordinated thought, Luffy went to hit the blonde with the bad aura on the noggin while Nami and Koby went to give the bodyguards sleeper holds.

The man, who had green hair like moss, raised a bloody brow. "Oi. Don't you know who that is? That's the Marine Captain's bastard son. You could get in trouble."

"Shishishi. What do you care? Aren't you some evil bounty hunter?" Luffy questioned.

"I never claimed to be such. I just turned in bounties so I could have money for food. My one and only goal has always been to be the greatest swordsman in the world."

"Cool! So, why you locked up by the Marines?"

"I made a deal with the brat to go a month without food to have charges dropped for attacking his wild dog of a pet. It's been three weeks."

"Man, I'd have starved after a couple days." Luffy grinned. "You should get some food in you right now. The deal's off now."

"What do you mean?"

Luffy just grinned and pinched Zoro's nose. The tanned prisoner held out as long as he could out of sheer stubbornness, but eventually was forced to open his mouth to take a breath. In that moment, Luffy darted in quick as a bird to _vomit_ biomass straight down Zoro's throat. The half-crucified nomad gagged for a couple seconds, before his eyes rolled up into his head and he went slack. With a few tugs, the ropes holding him were broken and Luffy arranged him comfortably on the ground.

"That was the grossest thing I've ever seen. And I once walked in on Alvida showering," Koby deadpanned.

"You could have just tapped him on the nose and be done with it. You didn't need to drag it out," Nami critiqued.

"Shishishi! I wanted to see what kind of guy he was. I needed to be sure he was a dreamer before I let him on the crew."

"Goo would have let you know."

"Yeah, but what's wrong with doing things the old-fashioned way once in a while?"

' _The method of Embrace is irrelevant. What matters is that Roronoa is in our grasp. Now kindly focus on the Marine Base. We would prefer there be no chance of violence on this island.'_

"Yes," they all said, their eyes going dull. "We Are Here To Help."

To Luffy's childish amusement, they went through the three towers like ninjas. They hid around corners and tucked newly Embraced out of the way where others couldn't find them until it was too late. With their speed and senses, outmaneuvering the unsuspecting Marines was child's play. Luffy liked the game so much he even brought up his 'hood' while deliberately leaving his eyes clear. He almost blew his cover when he came across a hulk of a man with an axe where his right hand should be, but he knocked him out with nary a sound.

They eventually finished, coming out on the roofs of their respective towers. Luffy patted a giant stone statue he found, leaving some biomass for Goo to slowly cover and erode the monstrosity. Axe Dude had a really high opinion of himself, apparently. Almost as bad as the nobles back home. The trio leapt from their roofs, taking the landing as easily as stepping off a staircase rather than a 100-foot drop.

Sweeping through Shell Town was almost a formality. The three pulled out their suits (blood-red for Luffy, orange for Nami, and swan white with blue streaks for Coby) and tore through the village like bolts of lightning. People didn't even have time to react before a light tap delivered the psychic payload and sent them into a healing sleep. Before those in the bar they'd eaten at awoke, the whole town was in the Embrace.

"I like getting new nakama, but it sure is boring," Luffy mused, lying atop the wall of the Marine Base, looking down at his unconscious swordsman.

Nami scoffed. "Wait until the World Government catches wind of an alien invasion. It won't be a quarantine, it'll be WAR. It'll be decidedly un-boring when we have to start fighting for our lives, not just to convert others."

Koby hung his head. "I know so much now. I see how ineffective, even corrupt so many Marines are. Bribes and incompetence and laziness and apathy. That's not what Marines are supposed to be!"

Luffy shrugged. "Well, you'll change that, won't you Fleet Admiral Koby? You'll be the best Marine, and I'll be the best Pirate. We'll show the others in the Embrace and the rest of the world what they should aspire to."

Nami giggled. "I can't wait until we get some monks in the Embrace. I can just see Goo going crazy over the koans."

' _You should not be so eager at my potential loss of sanity. Need we remind you that we are the glue holding you all together?'_

"Ne, don't be so grumpy, Goo! We're just joking." Luffy perked up. "Ooh! People are starting to wake up!"

It went beyond words, the feeling of new consciousnesses entering the Embrace. Fresh, unique perspectives thrown into the melting pot, one more set of eyes to look out at the world with their collective vision. The collective sense of peace and love growing exponentially with each new heart brought in.

"Unity cannot come soon enough," Nami sighed, luxuriating in the sensations of the Embrace expanding.

Koby huffed. "I know we have to forgive each other, but some of what the Morgans did is just plain despicable."

' _No matter how tainted, any soul can be saved. Our light shall banish their darkness. The Embrace is for all, even and perhaps especially those who do not deserve it. We Are Here To Help.'_

Luffy hopped down to lift Zoro to his feet. He was already clad in a bodysuit, a hunter green that complimented his hair and eye colors. "Let me make one thing clear. I don't care what you, Goo, or anyone else says. Get in the way of my dream, and you'll forgive me at the end of my sword."

"Shishishi! Don't worry, Zoro. None of us would get in the way of your dream. If the Pirate King's swordsman _wasn't_ the World's Strongest, that would just be embarrassing!"

Zoro smirked. "Now, let me get my swords."

"Goo can make you better ones."

"I don't really care about two. But you _know_ how important Wado is to me."

Luffy patted his hat. "Yeah, I know."

By sunset, they were ready to leave. Koby would stay with the base and 'honestly' get promoted, so as not to cheat his challenge to Luffy. Morgan would 'turn himself in', in the hopes of getting a foot in the Marine prison system. Plus, there was the chance of a high-ranking Marine coming out to transport him. Nami had taken the liberty of checking Morgan's safe, and found that the map of the Grand Line she'd heard was there had been poached by Captain Buggy. Their next destination was decided. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami set out in the town's best boat, to applause and cheers both physical and mental.

"I'm going to nap while Goo gets my body up to snuff," Zoro said, laying down before either of them could say anything. Wado Ichimonji, the white katana that was Kuina's memento, was clutched close to his green chest.

"I'll keep us on course for Orange Town and take up 'ocean' duty," Nami offered, dipping a hand into the saltwater.

"I'll go hunting for Sea Kings for biomass. Then I'll practice those 'Six Powers' Morgan heard about in the Academy. They sound cool, shishishi!" So saying, Luffy dived. Goo had worked out how to filter oxygen from water by studying the gills of the fish already caught in the Embrace. Now its Embraced could function in sea as well as on land.

The nascent Straw Hat Pirates sailed off into the sunset, set to collect a certain map from a certain clown, and spread the Embrace to another pirate crew.

* * *

The raft carrying the three Embraced was the source of a lot of commotion over the next week. Luffy (or rather Goo acting through Luffy) had the bright idea to release synthetic pheromones into the water, attracting Sea Kings by the school. The influx of biomass led to all three reaching peak physical condition and beyond. Goo had begun using spare biomass on Dawn Island to construct artificial bodies and put them through various tests to work out through trial-and-error the prime human makeup. Most of the experiments flopped, but a few bore fruit.

Goo had developed and implanted in each of them organs that would automate many of the functions of the bodysuit. That way, in the event they were ever THAT low on biomass, they would still be extremely equipped to survive any potential scenario.

The Second Heart: The simplest and most self-sufficient of implants allows an Embraced to survive his other heart being damaged or destroyed, and to survive in low oxygen environments. Not just a back-up, the secondary heart can boost the blood-flow around the Embraced's body.

The Ossmodula: A small, complex, tubular organ, the ossmodula secretes hormones that both affect the ossification of the skeleton and encourages the forming bone growths to absorb foreign materials. This drastically alters the way an Embraced's bones grow and develop. This causes many bones to increase in size and strength and the rib cage to fuse into a solid mass of bulletproof, interlocking plates.

Biscopea: this small, circular organ is located in the chest cavity and releases hormones that vastly increase muscle growth throughout the Embraced's body. It also serves to form the hormonal basis for many of the later implants.

Haemastamen: Implanted into the main circulatory system, this tiny implant increases the hemoglobin content of the Embraced's blood, making it more efficient at carrying oxygen around the body and making the subject's blood a bright red.

Larraman's Organ: A liver-shaped organ about the size of a golf-ball, this implant is placed within the chest cavity and connected to the circulatory system. It generates and controls 'Larraman cells' which are released into the blood stream if the recipient is wounded. They attach themselves to leucocytes in the blood and are carried to the site of the wound, where upon contact with air they form a near instant patch of scar tissue, sealing any wounds the Embraced may suffer.

Catalepsean Node: Implanted into the back of the brain, this pea-sized organ influences the circadian rhythms of sleep and the body's response to sleep deprivation. If deprived of sleep, the catalepsean node cuts in. The node allows an Embraced to sleep and remain awake at the same time by switching off areas of his brain sequentially. This process cannot replace sleep entirely, but increases the Embraced's survivability by allowing perception of the environment while resting. This means that an Embraced needs no more than 4 hours of sleep a day, and can potentially go for 2 weeks without any sleep at all.

Preomnor: This is essentially a pre-stomach that can neutralize otherwise poisonous or indigestible foods. No actual digestion takes place in the preomnor, as it acts as a decontamination chamber placed before the natural stomach in the body's system and can be isolated from the rest of the digestive tract in order to contain particularly troublesome intake.

Multi-lung: This additional lung activates when an Embraced needs to breathe in low-oxygen or poisoned atmospheres, and even water. The natural lungs are closed off by a sphincter muscle associated with the multi-lung and the implanted organ takes over breathing operations. It has highly efficient toxin dispersal systems.

Occulobe: This implant sits at the base of the brain, and provides hormonal and genetic stimuli which supercharge an Embraced's eyes - the result being that Embraced have far superior vision to normal humans, and can see in low-light conditions almost as well as in daylight.

Lyman's Ear: Not only does this implant make an Embraced immune from dizziness or motion sickness but also allows Embraced to consciously filter out and enhance certain sounds.

Sus-an Membrane: Initially implanted above the brain, this membrane eventually merges with the recipient's entire brain. With sufficient training an Embraced can use this implant to enter a state of suspended animation, consciously or as an automatic reaction to extreme trauma, keeping the Embraced alive for years, even if he has suffered otherwise mortal wounds.

Melanchromic Organ: This implant controls the amount of melanin in an Embraced's skin. Exposure to high levels of sunlight will result in the Marine's skin darkening to compensate. It also protects the Embraced from other forms of radiation.

Oolitic Kidney: In conjunction with the secondary heart this implant allows an Embraced to filter his blood very quickly, rendering him immune to most poisons. This action comes at a price, however, as this emergency detoxification usually renders the Marine unconscious while his blood is circulated at high speed. The organ's everyday function is to monitor the entire circulatory system and allow other organs to function effectively.

Neuroglottis: This enhances an Embraced's sense of taste to such a high degree that he can identify many common chemicals by taste alone. An Embraced can even track down his target by taste.

Mucranoid: This implant allows an Embraced to sweat a substance that coats the skin and offers resistance to extreme heat and cold and can even provide some protection for the Embraced in a vacuum.

Goo had contemplated a couple other organs, such as glands in the mouth to spit poison or nerve bundles that would allow an Embraced to gain knowledge by EATING a brain. A poll of the Embraced had encouraged it to desist, as that would be just a little too weird. When pressed about where it got so many ideas in such a short time, as well as some of the names, Goo admitted to taking inspiration from a role-playing game some of the children and teenagers in the Embrace liked to play.

Rumor had it that the game had been one of the Genius Vegapunk's side projects to get funding.

The result of all these new organs, as well as the integration of Goo's biomass, was that each Embraced was superhuman, a demi-god by any measure. And they would only improve, as stronger and stronger individuals were added to the Embrace. It also made the new average height for males and females jump up a few feet, but no one really cared about that.

Luffy stood at a new height of 6'9, and he wasn't done growing. A part of him looked forward to being even taller than his Gramps, though that might make walking through doors awkward. Luffy was still lean, though he now had more muscle on him than the average bodybuilder. His shoulders and waist were roughly the same width, giving him the clean lines of a rock-climber or lightweight boxer. His appetite had grown even more voracious, to the point that his rubber body was necessary at times to contain the sheer amount of food he needed to digest at meal times.

Zoro was already 7 foot and had no plans to get any bigger lest his hands grow too big for his precious sword. In contrast to Luffy's leonine grace, Zoro had swollen up to bear-like proportions. And all of it was pure, steel-hard protein. He looked like a gorilla on steroids, and yet he retained all the flexibility and smoothness he'd trained so hard for. He'd eaten his two 'nameless' swords just to get the metal into his system to strengthen his bones. His logic was that if his bones were hard, he could block sword strikes with his bare arms. That had gotten him a bonk on the head from Nami. He'd trained with Wado in his mouth as usual and two blades made from biomass that were functionally as good as titanium.

Speaking of the Navigator, she was happy with a modest 6 foot height. Her figure had scaled with her new height, though thankfully all the muscular upgrades meant she was safe from consequential back pain. She'd gone into deep discussion with Goo to 'specialize' her suit for navigation, including magnetic sensitivity, atmospheric monitoring, and enhancement of the parts of her brain that combined all that complex information into a clear picture of the weather. She'd also, on behalf of all women in the Embrace, requested that her 'monthly gift' be prevented.

Since Goo knew and remembered everything its Embraced did, it understood and agreed. _'We Are Here To Help'_ had been its simple acceptance.

That phrase helped comfort Nami, when she had the presence of mind to worry about her situation. If you had to be infected with a mind-controlling slime, at least it was a benevolent one.

The three were taking a break, or rather Luffy and Zoro were taking a break from Six Powers training. Zoro had applied the Tempest Kick to his swords with near maniacal glee, and Luffy found the freedom of movement provided by Moonwalk and Shave downright giddy. Nami didn't trouble herself with training. Anything her suit didn't render her immune to, she could take with her existing staff training, especially augmented by the polearm regime of the Goa Kingdom and Marines.

They were lounging in 'swimwear' versions of their bodysuits, enjoying the sun and spray on their skin. They were enjoying some peace and quiet when it was rudely taken from them.

"Halt! In the name of Buggy the Clown!"

The three looked up. A boat slightly smaller than theirs had pulled up beside them, boasting a sail and flag featuring a Jolly Roger with a red clown nose. Three men with… questionable fashion sense stood on it, pointing swords at them threateningly. They had cruel smirks, though they got decidedly indecent when they looked at Nami.

Luffy picked his nose, just that bored by the non-threat they posed. After digging for gold, he flicked three boogers at each of their mouths. They gaped and gagged for a few seconds, before collapsing into the cocoon of sleep.

"I didn't like the way they looked at you," Luffy grumbled.

"Thanks for defending my honor, I guess, but next time do it in a less disgusting way. Seriously, what's with you? First Koby, then Zoro, what will you come up with next?" Nami paused. "Actually, never mind. I don't want to know. I don't even want to think. That way lies vomiting."

"We're probably close, if those yahoos are any clue," Zoro spoke up, not even opening his eyes. "Oi, witch, how long until we make land?"

Nami casually flipped his prone from over the boat and into the ocean. She ignored his sputtering as she glanced at the sky. "I actually see land from here. An hour, tops. Less if you or Luffy decide to row."

Luffy giggled, expanding his bodysuit to 'monster costume' level and leaping into the water. "Oi, Zoro! I bet I can swim to the island faster than you!"

"You're on, Captain!"

The two took off, leaving behind wakes that nearly capsized Nami.

"YOU IDIOTS!" she screamed, her jaw opening unnaturally wide as her own suit covered her face, her teeth becoming like a shark's. Then she had an idea. "What better revenge than beating them at their dumb game? Goo, any Sea Kings in the Embrace yet?"

Luffy and Zoro were neck and neck, swimming with all their might for the rapidly approaching land. But just as they were getting near the shore, Nami swept past them, the boat balanced on the back of a porpoise-like Sea King. It submerged and did a flip just as it hit the shallows, leaving the boat to gently glide to stop at the dock.

"I win!" Nami called, pulling down an 'eyelid' of her suit and sticking out her tongue.

"Dirty cheat!" Luffy roared, flailing his arms like a toddler in a tantrum.

"Damn woman," Zoro grumbled, his mouth below the surface of the water.

Once they sorted out that debacle (with some 'assistance' from Goo), they looked around them.

"It's quiet."

"Too quiet."

"I've never seen a port this deserted."

Out of nowhere, a line of houses went up in a fiery explosion, as if hit by a very powerful cannon.

"Oh, that explains it," they decided, bonking their fists on their open palms.

' _Indeed. The townspeople must have evacuated after Buggy took residence.'_

"Let's beat up that dumb clown, then. Once he's a nakama, he won't be such a jerk!" Luffy declared.

"Standard protocol is to take out the most violent group first, isn't it?" Zoro asked, almost wishing he could tie a bandana around his head like before he got the suit.

"Fine. But we're letting the villagers keep all the treasure. They can use it better. Hiring help to repair all the damage will be a good way to get new people in the Embrace." Nami blinked. "I think a small corner of my soul just screamed at me for being generous."

' _Oops. Drew out of your limbic system for a second there. Better now?'_ Goo inquired.

"Yes…" Nami drawled, almost comatose in her new mellow.

"Right! Let's run away to the circus… and kick its ass!" Luffy called out.

* * *

If Luffy had thought Embracing Shell Town had been boring, then taking Orange Town was like watching paint dry. With the ultra-enhanced strength and speed of their new bodies, half the pirates were knocked out before they even noticed the intruders. Most of the rest fell before anyone got over their fear of the 'monsters' and stopped screaming.

Nami's most interesting Embrace was getting a guy with a weird hat and a whip with her 'feminine wiles'.

Zoro got a guy on a unicycle by slashing through his own blade and nicking the guy's chest.

Luffy had them beat, though. He'd gone for a simple jab to Buggy's body, only for the man's head to detach before he made contact. As the body fell down, the head screamed bloody murder and called out a great many names as it wildly hovered in the air, dodging Luffy's curious swipes. When he finally got serious and hit the head out of the air, he'd reattached it to the body like putting together a puzzle.

' _Fascinating. This must be a Devil Fruit power. I must carefully analyze him. I've already worked out how to give Luffy's elasticity to the rest of the Embraced, but integrating another genetic anomaly could prove challenging…'_

Luffy pouted. "Aw. I'm not the only Rubber Man?"

' _Think of it this way, Luffy. Your power is so cool your nakama want to try it for themselves. Curiously, most of them are young men.'_

"Shishishi! They probably want to play with their thingies stretching."

Nami tilted her head. "Huh. Sex lives among the Embraced are going to be even weirder than I thought."

' _And you devoted a lot of thought to that, did you?'_ voiced a dozen or so more perverted in the Embrace.

It was then that Nami invented the Mental Bitchslap.

Zoro sighed. "These lot are down. Let's go looking for the innocent townsfolk. I want to get a few good spars in with Luffy now we're on dry land."

"Yeah! I wanna prove that fists beat swords!" their childish captain agreed.

"At least consume any houses you break," Nami ordered, knowing better than to talk two knuckleheads out of a fight.

Other than a plucky dog and a pitifully armored man with big hair, the town proved to be truly empty. The rest were camped out a few miles along the coast. They were all touched within a minute, Zoro and Luffy naturally having a contest to see who could get more.

And then they proceeded to do more damage to the local architecture than Buggy ever had. But it was okay. Battle experience benefited the whole Embrace, and more repairs meant more people to import for aid.

Luffy about lost his shit when Buggy joined the Embrace and learnt he had been both friends with Shanks and a member of Gold Roger's crew (though apparently his real name was Gol D. Roger). Luffy and quite a few others in the Embrace spent hours badgering the splitting clown for every detail, even as they reviewed his memories as mental movies. Zoro got some necessary humbling by seeing how strong some of the swordsmen Buggy had ran into in the New World had been. Mihawk was heralded as the best in all the world, including the Grand Line. How far away was his goal, truly. Nami was fascinated with the chaotic weather of those two special oceans, trying to reason out some kind of logic from the chaos Buggy remembered. Goo itself paid much of its collective attention to 'Haki', the mysterious psychic power that supposedly every living being could harness.

That evening, after a 'party' to load up on biomass and celebrate the Embrace of another island, the two pirate crews set off in opposite directions. Buggy would coordinate with Goo to go for out of the way islands those already in the Embrace could not easily reach. The Straw Hats, though, set off for a place called the Gecko Islands. The Black Cat Pirates had been spotted sailing in that direction, according to Buggy's intel. Goo, naturally, wanted to prevent all possible loss of life. You can't Embrace someone if they were dead. Heading off a pirate attack just so they could 'attack' themselves might be ironic, but that's just the way things were.

Luffy and his two crewmates got back in their gifted boat, idly wondering when they'd get an actual ship. They set off, for a place Nami identified on her maps as Syrup Village. Just what had the Black Cats so interested in such a quiet, uninteresting place?

* * *

 **Here's how I see things. There are Peggy Sue One Piece fics, Different Fruit One Piece Fics, SI/OC One Piece fics, Shipping One Piece fics, and AU One Piece Fics. Other than a few I've found set in space, and one that crossovers with the Stephen Universe… universe, no One Piece fic deals with aliens. So, I figured I'd give it a shot. You can think of Goo mostly like a nice version of Venom or the Borg, with aspects of the Virus from [Prototype] and Space Marines of WH40k for flavor.**

 **Hope someone found this entertaining. Might just update this one if I get enough of a response. In any case, enjoy the wonderful world of fanfiction!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, a few people liked it. Might as well keep writing.**

* * *

Luffy bent sideways, avoiding an overhead slash from Zoro. He reared back his fist, twisting his arm as he did, to send a Gum-Gum Rifle shooting back. The swordsman blocked the blow with the flat of his biomass swords, twisting his neck savagely to send a wind blade from Wado.

To the average onlooker, it looked like they were trying to kill each other.

To the Embraced, it looked like playful roughhousing.

The fact they were underwater was practically cosmetic.

Nami sighed, aware of the exact details of the shenanigans happening a few dozen fathoms below the boat. "It's like I'm back at Arlong Park. A couple idiots brawling under the surface because they're bored."

' _Does it bother you, Nami? The knowledge that your oppressors will join our Embrace?'_ Goo chimed in with concern.

"It can only do them good. I have enough perspective now to see their racism is either cultural, so they don't know any better, or based off some past trauma. Once you show them how we're all the same on the inside, they should be guilty enough all on their own to make up for everything." Nami poked a finger at her suit. "Not like I have a choice in the matter, anyway."

' _We could cordon off contact between you and them, if you wish.'_

Nami huffed. "No, don't do that. I want them all to know exactly how much they hurt me over the years, the agony they made me endure. Mine and everyone else from Conomi. That's a better revenge than I could ever have managed."

' _Very well.'_

"Plus, I'm curious how Arlong will handle the knowledge that Embraced humans are superior to Fishmen. If his mind cracks, please put it back together into a better person. Or least a less annoying one.'

' _We live to serve. We Are Here To Help.'_

Luffy and Zoro broke the surface, their spar over. "Oi, Nami! How long until we get to Maple Town?"

"That's Syrup Village, idiot." Nami did some mental calculations. "By noon, I'd say."

"Okay. Ne, Zoro, let's do some Haki training!"

"Fine by me. It's been a while since I meditated, anyway."

Nami rolled her eyes as they climbed on the boat. "Why bother? Goo has half the available Embraced working on cracking both Colors around the clock. It's only a matter of time. And as soon as one person gets it, all of us will."

"According to Buggy, the 'will' of the user decides how strong it is. Luffy and I have the best chance out of all of us of accessing it first, given our characters. Besides, there's always the chance that one of us could have that special third Color, the Conquering King," Zoro explained.

"Plus, I want to be the first to have it!" Luffy chimed in.

"And that. That's a good reason too," Zoro said with a straight face.

Nami looked up to the heavens. "Psychically linked with a few thousand of them, and I still don't understand men."

' _AMEN, SISTER'_ echoed a great many of the women in the Embrace.

That said, the red and green Embraced settled down, trying to slip into a state of total, unfocused focus. Luffy, always eager to punch harder, tried to unlock his Armament. It involved feeling his body, holding the 'idea' of his body in his head, and bringing the two together. Mind and muscle as one. Zoro, more interested in outmaneuvering opponents before they even moved, attempted to find Observation. The training for that (with the optional addition of dodging blows from a partner) required one to block out all five senses in the hopes of discovering a sixth.

Nami, thankful for the piece and quiet, left them to it. Her job was easy as breathing, guiding the boat towards their destination fast as possible with the available power of the wind and waves.

Goo, using what spare attention it had that wasn't used to monitor and coordinate those in its Embrace, tinkered with the handful of Transponder Snails it had. Goo already had a psychic network established for the Embrace, but with some fiddling the gastropods just might be able to tap into other life forms. Goo just might be able to track the thoughts and feelings of all life on the planet, Embraced or not. Such knowledge could prove invaluable in spreading and eventually defending the Embrace.

They were barely an hour from their destination when Nami perked up. She breathed deeply, sticking out her tongue to taste the air. "Guys? Wake up!"

Her nakama opened their eyes, turning their heads to face the same direction as her.

"I hear people," Luffy noted.

"I know. I can smell them," Nami agreed.

"Call me crazy, but I can sense some bloodlust in that direction." Zoro ran a thumb over Wado's sheathe.

' _Nami, what's over there?'_ Goo prompted.

Nami reviewed her mental map. "A few outcroppings, too small to be habitable. They would block view of a ship from any lookout on the mainland, though."

Luffy grinned wide, his cowl rising up. "Looks like we found the Black Cats."

"One of us should be enough to Embrace them all." Zoro had a killer gleam in his eye.

Nami huffed. "Decide amongst yourselves. The loser and I will go on to the village."

"Janken?" Luffy proposed.

"Fine." A beat. "I win," Zoro grinned.

Luffy pouted. "Stupid mind reading. Didn't even get to act it out. That's the fun part."

Nami rewarded such childishness how it was deserved, at least to her mind.

Goo noted the odd combination of brain signals that accompanied the punch, as well as the inordinate amount of damage to Luffy given the suit. A few seconds were all it took to have a few test subjects among the Embrace trial it. _'Congratulations, Nami. You have found Armament for us.'_

"WHAT? NO FAIR! SHE DIDN'T EVEN TRY!" Luffy shouted, nursing a bump on his masked head.

"Seriously?" Nami gaped, as shocked as Luffy.

Zoro humphed. "Hell hath no fury, indeed. Well, that's one mystery solved. Luffy, get over it. I'll go adopt us a bunch of cats." With that, the swordsman dived into the water.

Goo gently corrected his direction without him noticing. No need to embarrass him by calling him out on it.

Luffy was still whining when he and Nami pushed their boat onto the shore. Nami was rapidly losing her patience.

"Oh, for goodness' sake. You can read his every thought. It's as good as doing it yourself!"

"Not the same," Luffy huffed. "So, should we consume the boat?"

"Let's wait until we deal with the welcoming committee first," Nami ordered.

' _I concur.'_

Really, it made you wonder who the real captain was.

"HALT, PIRATES!" shouted a young man. He appeared from behind a tree, clad in brown overalls. His most prominent feature was a long, thin nose that protruded at least two inches from his face. "I am the pirate who rules over these lands. People praise me, and then praise me more, as the great 'Captain Usopp!" Behind him, pirate flags appeared from the bushes and began to wave. "Begone from here, or my 80 million followers will attack!"

Luffy's eyes went wide, his smile stretching from ear to ear. "80 million, huh? I'll take you all on!" He got into combat stance, eager to test himself.

Nami rolled her eyes, even as 'Captain' Usopp gaped at the pirate. "He's obviously lying."

"Shit! She caught me," Usopp hissed.

"See? He said so himself," Nami pointed out, wondering what it was like NOT to be most intelligent person in the region.

Usopp recovered himself. "80 million might be an exaggeration! But rest assured, my crew far outnumbers you!"

"Outnumbered? Barely. Outmatched? Not even close."

Usopp shrieked, turning around. The woman in the strange orange pantsuit was on the cliff behind him. In her hands, she held up the unconscious forms of Carrot, Pepper, and Onion, his loyal followers. The sniper gaped. When had she moved? How had she gotten up there so fast?

"Hey!"

Usopp turned back, looking back to the beach. He felt his blood run cold when he met the stare of the man in red. It was like looking down the barrel of a loaded gun, like a mouse looking into the eyes of a coiled snake. Usopp looked into those cold, black eyes, and knew he was facing Death.

"Get lost!" the man hissed, the intensity of his glare spiking with his words.

There was a burst of invisible, intangible power.

Foaming at the mouth, the liar Usopp collapsed to the ground in a dead feint.

Luffy grinned, laughing in delight. "Cool! It worked."

"What was that?" Nami demanded.

' _If I'm not wrong, that was the Color of the Conquering King. Here I thought Luffy just had a benign growth in his amygdala. It's the one thing that distinguishes him from the rest of you, apart from the obvious. Well, except Koby. He has it too. It must be that lobe which provides the unique Haki. I'll do some experiments with the false bodies.'_

"Shishishi! Now we just need Zoro to get Observation and we'll have found all three!"

As if on cue, Zoro dodged an attack from behind from an abnormally thin greenhead he thought he'd already cut. He couldn't say what alerted him to the blow, he'd simply _known_ it was coming.

Nami snorted. "Just what makes us so special?"

' _You are the crew of the future Pirate King, of course. Our thanks on behalf of us all for discovering this knowledge. Give us some time. Soon, none will have to rely on their individual will for Haki. All in the Embrace will have access to our collective power. We have gained a potent tool in our quest to achieve Unity. The Mother shall reward you beyond our meager capacity, we promise.'_

The three Straw Hat Pirates smiled with glazed eyes, so high on endorphin and oxytocin stimulation they were past the moon. "Thank you, Goo. We Are Here To Help."

They say it is better to die on your feet than live on your knees. But when your knees were on a silken pillow, a gilded collar around your neck, under the hand of a generous and loving master… was it really the same?

* * *

Before Zoro could make it to the island, Nami and Luffy had already Embraced Syrup Village. They'd followed their noses to a restaurant to load up on biomass, and then swept through the sleepy town like embodiments of the plague. The luxurious mansion on the hill was a bit of a surprise, and the freakishly-quick butler was even more so. They got a good idea of his true nature even before Goo reached his mind, when they found the heiress of the mansion drugged in her bed. But he was in the Embrace now, so all his sins were forgiven. Or at least irrelevant.

Luffy, wanting to burn off energy, decided to go off and Embrace the other towns on the island, which he could sense from Goo's assisted use of Observation Haki. Zoro, having dragged the ship of the Black Cat Pirates behind him as a work out, set about consuming the buildings. However strong he was now, Goo could make him stronger. He just needed the biomass. The original Zoro might consider it cheating to earn strength any way other than training or battle, but the Embraced Zoro was more open. He was the Swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates, on the frontlines of the Embrace. He needed to be strong as possible to protect his existing nakama and be able to convert others into new comrades-in-arms. Nami, acting childish for once (if you can't beat them, join them), gathered up all the precious metals she could find in the mansion. She then proceeded to chew and swallow the items whole. If and when she died and withered away, the world would find she had bones of pure gold and silver.

Impractical? Just a tad. Awesome? Of course!

Goo was only getting better at converting humans, so the Black Cat crew were awake within a couple hours. In time, the amount of biomass Luffy had used per person in Goa would Embrace someone in 10 minutes, not 10 hours. The Embraced learned of the deception of Captain Kuro and his master plan to acquire Lady Kaya's fortune. Of more interest was Django's power of hypnotism. Goo seized on the information like it was made of diamond. With the proper usage, those freshly injected with biomass would be able to fight alongside the Embraced even when unconscious.

Captain Kuro himself, whom most of Syrup Village knew as Klahadore, contributed to the Embrace with his knowledge of the Stealth Foot. It was distinct from the Shave of the Six Powers, focusing more on moving in the enemy's blind spots and moving with the susurrus of the eye than true speed. Still, it just might be possible to combine the two. Combined with experience with claw-based combat, he more than made up for his duplicity and betrayal in the eyes of the Embraced. Kaya, the gentle soul that she was, forgave him for his dastardly plan.

Usopp was promptly recruited to the Straw Hat crew. He had extremely sharp vision, which would only improve once he received an Occulobe, and a fierce desire to see the world and prove himself that rivaled Luffy's own, however cowardly he might be. He also had a deep, pure, honest love for Kaya that he was overjoyed to discover was reciprocated.

The first child to be born of the Embrace was conceived that night.

Kaya, as it turned out, also possessed a sturdy caravel. The Going Merry needed only a mental glance from Luffy to have it declared the official ship of his crew. And Luffy, being Luffy, saw the ship as a nakama in its own right. The mansion and its gardens were consumed for biomass, which was subsequently gifted to the Merry. There were already a few living buildings back on Dawn Island, but with the integration of Goo's symbiote into every plank, Going Merry became the world's first living ship.

The boat kept the same colors it had originally been painted with, though an invisible layer of clear biomass covered everything. On command, the ship would be suited just as completely as its crew. The goat's head figurehead would blink if you paid attention, but to the casual observer seemed merely for decoration. The sails glimmered in the sunlight, taut before even the strongest gale, and proudly bore a Jolly Roger with the slit eyes of the bodysuit and a straw hat atop its skull.

Luffy actually cried when he saw it. It was beautiful, just how he'd always pictured his ship.

Well, except for one part. He'd have to find and consume some bronze to get the statue of himself. Nami couldn't even protest, as Goo already made future plans to use it as a counterweight for balance during a storm.

Usopp, clad in a suit of sunlight yellow that gave him a particularly cheery appearance, gave a final kiss to his fair-haired Kaya. He gave a rub to her belly, where Goo assured him their baby had already planted itself in her womb. This child would not be like him. Even though he wouldn't be there in person, the baby would always have his father looking over him, whispering love and encouragement. Usopp could only hope that Yasopp could join the Embrace in time to witness the birth of his grandchild.

"Come on, Usopp! Let's get going!" Luffy called.

"Idiot! Don't ruin the moment!" Nami chided. With conscious use of Armament, she managed to truly knock him out for a few seconds.

Zoro just rolled his eyes. Sex and all its attendant distractions were not for him. Not until his dream was achieved, at least.

Usopp snuck in one last peck. "I love you, Kaya. Make sure you get lots of biomass for our little warrior of the sea."

"As I love you, Usopp. Don't worry. He or she will be just as big and strong as their brave pirate of a father."

Merry, Kaya's butler and the designer of the Going Merry, watched the parting with nostalgia. If only her parents could be here.

Usopp hoped onto the ship, which raised anchor and sailed away of its own accord. "Hey, let's get some booze! To toast the occasion!"

"Now you're talking," Zoro approved.

' _Very well. We'll remove your tolerance for this event. A celebration is in order. Another island Embraced, a ship for the crew, and the man to become the best sniper in the world as a new nakama.'_

Luffy grabbed his mug from where it materialized from the walls of the ship. "To pirates! To the One Piece! To Goo!"

"KANPAI!"

Nami went for the rudder after draining her cup in one chug. "Now, for THAT island. The mysterious Treasure Island that no one has come back from. I want to map it!"

Luffy shrugged. "Sure. But after that, we need to round out the crew. We absolutely MUST have a cook before we go for the Grand Line. Oh, and a musician."

"What's the point of a cook? Aren't we just living off intravenous biomass at this point?"

"Shishishi! Dumb Usopp! Goo's in our heads. We can 'eat' biomass and have it taste whatever we want it to. If we get a cook, they'll let us know the absolute best ways it can taste!"

Usopp, while put out at being called dumb by his captain whom he knew for a fact was a few apples short of a bushel, perked up. "Oh, yeah! That's good."

' _We already have the culinary expertise of the Royal Chefs of Goa Kingdom. However, we should always strive for the best of the best. We hear rumor that the best food in the East Blue comes from a certain restaurant.'_

"Then that's settled! Off to Nami's mystery island! And then, to that restaurant! For a cook worthy of the Pirate King!" Luffy hopped onto Merry's head, pointing towards the horizon. "FULL SPEED AHEAD!"

* * *

 **So, I've decided to alter my usual style. Rather than hold myself to a certain word length per chapter, I'll just go for arcs or mini-arcs as they come to me and post them as they finish. Worked for 'Once Again'. Hope you liked!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Shout-out to Needy Nancy and all my other readers. Thank you for the support.**

* * *

Treasure Island, which was revealed to truly be the Island of Rare Animals, was a pleasant distraction. Luffy and Usopp had fun playing with Gaimon and all the weird, hybrid animals. Nami got the chance to chart an 'unexplored' island. Zoro had some interesting duels with the more predatory wildlife once they had been beefed up by the Embrace. And Goo got an object lesson in genetic diversity.

In the string of many, MANY advantages the Embraced had over mere humanity, Goo had now added the sonar of dolphins or bats, the nasal sensitivity of a bloodhound, the cloaking of a chameleon or octopus, and was experimenting with the false bodies on the fast-twitch, explosive speed of certain snakes and bullet shrimp.

Really, at this point, the Embraced were their own species, so far had Goo enhanced them. Alvida had recently found and eaten the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, so their suits were now frictionless. Goo found the powers of the Sea Devil fascinating. There was a genetic component, but also a psionic one. In decoding one, it made progress on the other. Combined with constant research into Haki and the Transponder Snails, Goo and the Embraced were on the cusp of unlocking true psychic abilities.

At the moment, the Going Merry was sailing cheerfully in the general direction of the Baratie, the floating restaurant when they hoped to acquire a cook as a crewmate. Goo had the Merry releasing biomass by the pound into the ocean, spreading the Embrace to the various fish, sea flora, and coral they passed over. By Embracing the fish, they could embrace islands by having Embraced among the catch of the fishermen. Sea Kings, however, were proving annoying by consuming whole schools at a time, greatly reducing the amount Embraced per unit of biomass. To correct this, Goo had resumed Luffy's policy of releasing Sea King pheromones to attract all those in the area, where they would be quickly consumed.

Extinction was a terrible thing, but better to happen at the top of the food chain than the bottom.

The crew were entertaining themselves. Having a ship that practically sailed itself really cut down the number of chores onboard.

Nami was sunbathing, though with her Melanchromic Organ made it so she already had a perfect tan. It was about the experience, in her mind.

Usopp was tinkering in his lab, where he had set up all his various apparatus and gadgets to construct special ammunition. He was collaborating heavily with Goo on how to calibrate biomass in such as way as to recreate the effects, allowing him to Embrace and combat at the same time. Usopp was proving to be a genius of chemistry and engineering, combining and improving on the collective education of the Embrace with startling frequency.

Zoro, always eager for a challenge, was exercising with massive weights composed of biomass. By putting stress on his muscles, Goo could better understand how they functioned and how to improve them. Zoro just thrilled at putting his mutant body through its paces, finding and expanding past what few limits it had.

Luffy was napping on Merry's head. He had no need for sleep between the Catalepsean Node and Goo's biomass cleaning out his brain, but he still enjoyed it. And when one had access to a collective unconscious, dreams became downright trippy.

They were all unconsciously utilizing Armament and Observation. Goo thought it best to have both active for all Embraced at all times. Awareness of threats and protection against them was so useful, why ever NOT have them up? It proved oddly draining until Goo worked out through the false bodies how to augment the Embraced's natural capacity with biomass. Now Goo could have them all acting as armored antennas 24/7. He'd also given each Embraced the special growth that allowed Conqueror's. An experiment with an island the Buggy Pirates raided revealed that the King's Will did indeed stack when originating from multiple people acting in synch. The crew had knocked the whole port unconscious, leaving Embracing them all to be simple clean-up.

Zoro finished his 9000th rep of squats when his Haki picked up something. "Oi! Two guys I know are out on that rock!"

"We just got on a good current! Do we really have to go get them?" Nami complained.

"Fear not! I have the perfect solution!" Usopp popped out on deck, running over to a cannon. He coordinated with Merry telepathically, lining up the shot, calculating the proper trajectory as easy as 2 + 2. "Conversion Cluster Star, fire!" Usopp shouted.

A ball of solid biomass arced out over the water. When it was directly above the rock Zoro had sensed the presences, it exploded. Rather than a spherical blast, though, the biomass all rained down like a hail of arrows. The entire rock, and the two men hiding out on it, were absolutely doused with symbiote.

' _They are in our Embrace. They'll be up within minutes. We compliment your ingenuity, Usopp, but perhaps be more mindful of resources in future?'_

"Damn. Sorry." Usopp actually felt bad.

"That was so cool!" Luffy exclaimed. He had stars in his eyes as he looked at Usopp as if he were some hero or savior descended from heaven. "With the boom and the splat and the rain. You're the coolest sniper ever!"

"Of course! Tales are told far and wide of the legendary skills of the great Captain Usopp!" Bad feeling gone.

"Hey! I'm the captain!" Luffy paused. "Eh, Goo? These suits are like superhero costumes, right? How about we each get our own special symbol?"

' _Hmm… well, what could it hurt?'_ With some quick color conversion, each Straw Hat got their own personalized Jolly Roger emblazoned on their breast.

"Hmm. Nice," Zoro grinned.

"I didn't ask for this. But I admit it has a certain charm. Goo got rid of my tattoo, but I got kind of used of having a mark on me. I'll allow it," Nami declared, looking down at her sigil on the left cup of her 'bikini' suit.

"Yes! The proud crest of Usopp, the King of Snipers! My child's blanket will have this on it!" Usopp declared.

"Shishishi! It's just like the flag. Shows that I'm the captain!"

Goo felt some trepidation as others in the Embrace took notice. Dear Mother, now it would have to come up with a seal for everyone. It had access to the collective computing power of almost ten thousand brains by now, but still.

* * *

Johnny and Yosaku, Zoro's old bounty hunting buddies, managed to catch up to them by swimming. Turns out that the Embrace had saved their lives; Yosaku was in the midst of scurvy and Johnny was on the cusp of falling prey to it himself. The two marveled at how imposing and strong their 'big bro' was now. Zoro denied that the shower of compliments boosted his ego, but of course everyone knew the truth. No privacy in the Embrace, after all.

Their knowledge of bounty hunter gossip and general locations of marks was already being put to use. Koby, or rather his commanding officer, was already coordinating Marine forces to track them down. As the ones with the original intel, the various Bases would have to transport the criminals to Shell Town. From there, they would be Embraced and return to their respective Bases, spreading the Embrace through the East Blue Marine branches.

Most intriguing, though, was the rumor that a certain 'hawk-eyed' man had been sighted near the Baratie.

"I'm fighting him," Zoro stated.

' _Zoro, we advise against it. There is a very high probability of your death if you fight.'_

"I don't care. Dueling that man is the reason I set out to sea. I told you from the start, get in the way of my dream and I'll kill you!"

Luffy nodded. "Indeed. Who are we to interfere with a Man's Romance."

Usopp gaped. "A Man's Romance? Oh me, oh my, this IS serious."

There were mental nods from around half the Embraced. Unsurprisingly, most of them had a Y chromosome.

Nami shook her head. "At least let Goo give you the Chop-Chop Fruit. That should give you a fighting chance, at least until he starts using Haki. All this assuming Mihawk is actually out there and this isn't just baseless gossip."

"No!" Zoro breathed deep. "My ambition, my oath, they mean more to me than my own life. Allow me this one fight. Just him and me. No suit of armor, no mental advice, nothing but me and my blades. After I win or lose, THEN you Embrace him or kill him or whatever you want to do. If nothing else, you own me the chance to do this."

' _*Sigh* We Are Here To Help. Even if we do not approve. Very well, Zoro. We will arrange this duel if at all possible.'_

From that moment on, Zoro stopped using biomass. He retracted his suit to just a pair of 'pants', borrowed Johnny's and Yosaku's swords, and set about training like he'd never trained before. The wind blades he sent out from the back of the ship managed to part the ocean.

It took three days to reach the Baratie, in which time Johnny and Yosaku got sufficient biomass to be brought up to 'standard'. This was helped by Luffy dealing with his stress over his nakama gearing up for a life-or-death scenario by hunting down and beating up Sea Kings. Both shot up past 8 feet, having no compunctions against becoming giants like the rest of the crew. Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro had settled around 7 feet, deciding that the upper range of 'normal' human was the best fit. They got maximum reach and muscle mass while still being able to go around standard buildings without two much trouble. The bounty hunting duo, conversely, had always been made to feel puny by their targets. They wanted to become living gods, titans among men.

Goo was happy to oblige them. It gave it a chance to work out the square-cubed problem for a humanoid frame. It could just wait until they met and Embraced an actual Giant, as Marine data had confirmed the existence of, but that was not the way of the Embrace. Always expanding, always improving, always evolving. Patience was a virtue, but there was a mission to complete. We Are Here To Help.

Finally, they reached the notorious Baratie. Where the quality of food was only matched by how… unrefined the staff were.

"Who's going to deal with the Marine ship?" Nami asked, her suit disguised as normal clothes. They could hardly sample the menu if the chefs were unconscious.

"Allow me! The Mighty Usopp is eager to prove his worth!" So saying, Usopp turned to face the Marine ship coasting up behind them. Between Observation and his supernatural eyesight, he marked where every single person on board was. He drew out a 'slingshot', which was really a devilishly-complicated invention of various different configurations of biomass. He reached into his pouch to draw out his ammo of compact biomass nuggets. Adjusting tensile strength and draw weight as fast as a computer, Usopp let fly his first shot. "Embrace Star!"

The Straw Hats were treated to the sight of a master at his craft. Faster than a team of riflemen, Usopp managed to shoot every Marine on the boat. Whether curving the shot with the wind just so or simply penetrating the wood of the hull, Usopp managed to calculate each shot perfectly. From the crow's nest to the brig, Usopp got every single man and woman aboard in less than a minute.

"Ha! 58 shots, 58 hits, 58 seconds! I. Am. The. King!" Usopp crowed.

Johnny and Yosaku started bowing from their knees. "Hail Big Bro Usopp! We are not worthy~!"

"Awesome!" Luffy gaped.

Zoro and Nami alone remained unmoved. The former was single-minded in preparation for the ordeal ahead, the latter simply didn't want to cater to the male ego anymore than she already had in her life.

Leaving the vessel to float aimlessly until those aboard awoke in the Embrace, the Merry sailed into the dock of the floating restaurant.

"Remember, just like Shell Town. Load up on biomass, _then_ start Embracing. Until then, act on your best behavior," Nami ordered.

"Yes, yes," the henpecked men answered.

Undaunted, Luffy kicked open the doors. "Give me meat!"

Nami had a tic mark on her forehead. "I should have realized. That _is_ his best behavior."

A distinctly unimpressed looking cook in sunglasses led them to an open table before leaving them to browse the menu. They drew a few stares from the other clients; they were all abnormally tall and attractive, after all.

"The cooks here are strong," Zoro noted. "Compared to the average weaklings, I mean."

"Don't insult normal people for being normal. But I agree. They're stronger than your standard pirate crew," Nami noted.

"The old guy with the peg leg is real tough. Like he's from the Grand Line," Luffy stated, a pinky up his nose in flagrant disregard for proper dining etiquette.

"I'd be freaking out right now if I couldn't tell exactly how much better than them we are." Usopp sighed blissfully. "I LOVE not being a coward anymore."

' _Think nothing of it, Usopp. We Are Here To Help.'_

They all relaxed at those words. It was a Pavlovian response at this point. They didn't even need the actual cocktail of hormones, so associated were the two.

A blond, wearing a snazzy suit, appeared as if from nowhere next to Nami's seat. He was down on one knee, his one visible eye not blocked by his hair in the shape of a heart. He held out a blood-red rose. "Ah! Love! Truly blessed are we, to have such a goddess in our midst!" He hid his face in the crook of his elbow. "No! Don't look at me. A miserable being such as myself is not worthy of your attention!" In a blur that was invisible to unenhanced senses, the man was placing a dish on Nami's plate. "Here! Please enjoy a Fruit Macedonia, beautiful lady. I'll be leaving right now to fetch you a complimentary bottle of our finest wine!" He looked up from Nami, his face becoming hard as stone as his eye went from pink heart to flat orb. A cigarette had appeared in his mouth at some point. "Oi. What do you bastards want?" he addressed the men at the table.

Luffy threw back his head and laughed. "Shishishi! You're funny!"

"Who the hell are you?" Zoro barked. Something about this guy just rubbed him the wrong way.

"I the hell am Sanji, the sous chef here. The damn waiter quit, so I'm stuck serving brutes like you. I ask again, what do you want?"

Nami, always eager to cause chaos, pouted. "Ne, ne, don't be so rude to my friends."

"My apologies, mademoiselle! What can I get for you, gentlemen?" The heart eyes were back.

"Such uneven treatment," Usopp muttered.

"One of everything! This is the best food in the East Blue, right? I want to try it all!" Luffy demanded.

"Pretty please?" Nami threw in.

"I'll prepare it all myself!" In a strangely noodle-like movement, Sanji swept up the stairs to the kitchen above.

"Strange guy," Johnny remarked.

"Smooth, though." Yosaku gave a silent nod of acknowledgement.

The Straw Hat Pirates (and two guests) were soon treated to a feast. Everything was prepared expertly and presented beautifully. And the flavor, oh. Luffy had stars in his eyes from the first bite. The others quickly joined him. Since entering the Embrace, they had never known hunger, but they had forgotten the simple pleasure of eating delicious food. And this food was on another level entirely.

"I had no idea a squash could make me weep," Usopp commented, eating another blossom.

"It would almost be worth getting fat, eating like this every day," Nami mused, taking another spoonful of delicate-yet-rich soup.

"It's decided," Luffy declared. "Sanji will be our cook." That done, he bit into a succulent filet mignon wrapped in the juiciest bacon.

"He's the strongest here after the peg-leg, so I'm okay with it," Zoro said, sipping on the wine. He preferred stronger stuff, but any booze would do.

"Hey, big bros. Will we ALL eat like this?" Johnny asked.

' _Indeed. Whether chewing grass or simply staring at the wall, we will be able to provide the gustatory experience of such cuisine to all Embraced.'_ Goo assured.

"Ne, Johnny. I'm really glad we got abducted by alien pirates."

"Me too, buddy."

Once every bite and sip was consumed, they laid there in a kind of blissful coma. On another note, each was full to the brim with biomass, the highly-nutritious meal proving quite bountiful for conversion.

"Did you like it?" Sanji appeared to ask, a smug little smirk of pride on his lips. He could tell just from looking at them.

Nami decided to have one last bit of fun before the screaming started. "You want to know how much I liked it?" she said coyly. She crooked a finger, having him bring his ear close like he was offering it as a snack. Nami gave a quick peck to his cheek, the saliva on her lips replaced with a layer of symbiote. The chef reacted with an explosive nosebleed, collapsing on his back to the floor with a dopey grin on his face.

"Whoa! You killed him," Usopp gaped.

' _No. He still has a pulse. We shall see what we can do about that rather… explosive response to women. Cannot have so blatant a weakness in the Embrace.'_

The other clientele chuckled at Sanji's antics. Another cook was on his way over to haul him away when Luffy let loose his Conquering Haki. He was too full and content to 'fight' at the moment. As one, everyone in the building but the Embraced fell into a dead feint. With one exception.

The ceiling collapsed, as a man with a braided mustache and very tall chef's hat kicked his way through the intervening decks. "Which one of you dumb eggplants is causing trouble in MY restaurant?"

Zoro cocked a brow. "Wow. Imagine what he'll be like when he gets his leg back."

"What's that supposed to mean?" yelled the pissed off ex-pirate.

"USOPP HAMMER!"

Utilizing Stealth Foot, Usopp appeared behind the owner. With a mighty heave, a small but dense block of biomass came down directly on the back of the middle-aged combatant's head. Between the trauma and the sedative the injected biomass released, the man was down in a heartbeat.

' _That is that done. Now, we recommend Embracing all occupants of the restaurant. One should go convert all the stored food into biomass to speed up the process.'_

"I'll do it. I can stretch to hold it all!"

Nami rolled her eyes as her captain ran for the freezer and pantry. "As if. He's just still hungry."

"Shut up, witch. Let's get this over with."

The other three could only shake their heads as Zoro got a few lumps on his noggin. He never learned, did he?

The customers and cooks were swiftly injected with small amounts of biomass, which Luffy augmented once he was swollen up like a balloon. Those on the Marine ship outside began to awake at the same time as those on the Baratie.

Gin was helped to the ship's galley to get all the biomass he needed. There'd barely been enough spare tissue in his system for Goo to Embrace his brain. His clothes had been sacrificed for the effort, and he didn't yet have a suit. No one cared, though. What was physical nudity when you were aware of one's deepest, darkest, most intimate secrets? The terror of the waters around Reverse Mountain without a Log Pose was a humbling memory. And Zoro felt his blood spike when it was confirmed that a man with 'hawk-eyes' had been the one to devastate the Krieg Pirate fleet. And a swordsman finishes what he starts.

Zeff gave a tantalizing glimpse into how the upper limits of humanity achieved their strength. His muscles were impressive, of course, but his peripheral nervous system was nothing like a normal person's. This supported Goo's hypothesis that there was a psionic component to superhuman strength. If and when it cracked the secret, combined with the vastly superior muscle systems of the Embraced, resistance would become a formality should the world at large rally against the Embrace.

Sanji's childhood was out of a nightmare. The cruelties of the Germa Kingdom would not be forgotten by the Embraced. Forgiven, perhaps, but never forgotten. Sanji, upon learning that he was birds of a feather with the crazy dreamers of the Straw Hats, agreed to be their cook. And it was only 97% or so to stay around Nami.

Gin was loaded with enough food for 200 people, all laced with biomass, and given a boat to hunt down the Krieg flagship. Once the remainder of the crew were in the fold, they would sail for the Baratie, in the hopes of luring 'Hawk-Eye' Mihawk there so Zoro could have his duel. Marine Lieutenant Fullbody turned his ship around, off to embrace his port-of-call. The customers went off to do the same, leaving the Straw Hat crew with the Baratie cooks.

"Raise the Fin!" Zeff ordered, standing on two feet once again. At the moment it was just biomass, but in time his own leg would grow back in, thanks to the wonders of having a symbiote in control of his every cell. "I want to work out the kinks in my style, having two legs again."

"And I want to fight ALL of you!" Zoro called out. "I'm having the fight of my life in a few days. Every second counts!"

Luffy grinned, even as his cowl went up. "Shishishi! This is going to be fun! We haven't got to be in those big brawls Goo throws on Dawn island."

' _It is necessary to simulate tactical conditions in engaging large groups.'_

"I don't really care. I just want to punch somebody!"

'… _Right.'_

With that, the Battle of the Baratie, as it would come to be known, kicked off. Every man for himself. Winner? They were all winners, really.

Nami shook her head. Seriously, MEN.

* * *

Three days passed. New customers came and were Embraced almost before they had a chance to sit down. They went on their way, leaving the Baratie cooks and Straw Hats to get back to combat training.

Zoro was like a man possessed… well, more so than he already was. Even with Goo healing the damage he inflicted on himself almost as fast as it happened, the swordsman still came on the brink of dying a couple times. But it was all worth it if you asked him, as his strength and speed grew in leaps and bounds. When he wasn't training himself into the ground, he was meditating to improve his Haki. Zoro was the first to discover the phenomenon of Hardening, compressing Armament to the point that a black lacquer appeared on the thing being augmented.

For the record, a 7 foot tall Embraced with jet-black biomass from head to toe, eyes white slits and tongue hanging out over pointed teeth, a skull-and-crossbones emblazoned on their chest, was quite the terrifying image.

Luffy, at Goo's suggestion, starting testing out some ideas on exploiting his rubber body that had passed inspection with the false bodies on Dawn. Gears Second and Third were born, with Goo mitigating the negative side effects of a heartbeat in excess of 400 BPM and forcing huge amounts of air into one's bone marrow. Gear Four was still in the testing stages. For some reason, it started to drain Haki like crazy when the muscles were inflated. Goo was still trying to work out that oddity.

Usopp, putting his mind to work, came up with a way to improve Nami's combat power in a way she'd approve. The Clima-Tact was still a prototype, Usopp and Goo working around the clock to simulate it with biomass rather than Usopp's knickknacks. Nami found the power to influence the weather quite… stimulating. As far as Zoro was concerned, it made her a true-blue witch to give her sorcery, which she insisted was simple science.

Sanji now stood at the height of 7'6. He'd wanted extra long legs to improve the power of his kicks. The Merry, being composed almost entirely of biomass, had adjusted all doorways and ceilings to compensate for that and any future crewmates that didn't like the 'small' size Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro preferred. Though Zoro was thinking of doing some growing. It grated against him for the cook to have an advantage on him in any possible way. Half of Zoro's sparring had been provided by the smoking cook, whom was similarly put out by every single facet of the swordsman's character.

Well, you know what they say. 'Two tigers cannot live on the same mountain'.

Finally, the day came. Almost as one, the Embraced lifted their heads towards the horizon.

"They're coming," Luffy noted.

"And HE is right behind them," Zoro breathed out. He was already starting to sweat. He was freakishly powerful even for an Embraced, but how would that measure up against a veteran of the New World? Had the heights Goo had brought them to already eclipsed the highest this world had to offer? Or would they prove short and be cut down?

One way or another, Zoro could hardly wait to find out.

Gin lead the survivors of the crew off the ship, flanked by a hulk of a man. A quick look showed that the man's bodysuit was gold, making him quite ostentatious.

Nami rolled her eyes. "There's flaunting your wealth, and there's insecurity. That guy was the latter."

' _Ours is not to judge. Ours is to take whatever flaws and faults there are and improve upon them. We Are Here To Help.'_

"I know," Nami agreed. "Still, Gin was better captain material than that coward, whatever his preference was."

' _On that, we can agree. Still, Gin prefers to follow, even knowing the depth of his captain's… deprivation.'_

Don Krieg walked right up to Luffy. "Listen, kid. You give it your best shot. But I'M going to be the Pirate King."

Luffy just laughed. "Shishishi! Good luck trying, you weakling!"

Goo had to all but tranquilize Krieg to prevent a violent response.

Usopp alone seemed to appreciate Krieg's presence. Goo's analysis of all his weaponry and armor had given the inventor quite a few brainstorms.

From there it was just a matter of waiting.

And then it came.

The grand galleon, however scarred and damaged by the Grand Line and Calm Belt, was sliced into three segments.

Zoro raced outside.

"There he is," he breathed.

The man was sat in a small boat, barely a dinghy, shaped like a coffin. Candles burned with green flame at each corner. The sail of the boat was shaped like a grand cross, mimicking the hilt of the giant sword the man carried on his back. He was tall for a human, around 6'6, and wore an open black coat with red insides over his bare chest. Purple pants tucked into boots. It was the man's eyes that stood out though. They were yellow, and so sharp one could cut themselves just staring too hard into them.

This was Dracule Mihawk, with his mighty blade Yoru. One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, those pirates sanctioned by the World Government. The most feared, renowned, skilled swordsman to ever sail the seas.

And Zoro's dream.

One of the Krieg Pirates stepped forward. "You! Why did you attack our fleet? Why did you hunt us down all this way?" He wanted answers, a reason for the death of his friends.

Mihawk didn't even deign to look at the man. "To kill time."

It was how he said it, as if explaining to an ant that he hadn't noticed stepping on his neighbor. With a cry of rage, the man pulled a gun and fired. Goo allowed it, if only to see what happened.

Before the upgraded eyes of the Embraced, Mihawk pulled his sword off his back and brought it into the path of the bullets. With a movement that almost seemed lazy it was so effortless, Mihawk twisted his wrist to deflect the bullets with the sides of his blade.

Zoro hopped over to the collapsed galleon, Wado in his mouth and Johnny and Yosaku's borrowed blades in his hands. He wore pants he'd found in the Baratie closet and had tied his hair back with a black napkin. He was determined to do this without a bodysuit. His fearsome physique was on proud display. "I've never seen such graceful swordplay," he called out.

Mihawk eyed the latest gnat to challenge him. His Observation made him perk up. Hmm, more like a beetle. And with a curious undertone… one that all the others shared. What was that? Focusing on the little frog calling him out, Dracule called "A sword without grace is naught but an iron bar."

"True." With a furrow of his brow, Zoro Hardened his swords. Mihawk raised a brow. Armament in this backwater Blue? "I swore to surpass you one day. If you're just killing time, why not have a duel?"

Mihawk eyed this new plaything. "Is it greed or ignorance that fuels you, child? You should know before we even crossed blades that I am beyond you."

Zoro gulped. Mihawk wasn't kidding. Zoro had thought himself a titan after all his arduous training, all the enhancements that Goo had gifted to him. There had yet to be an opponent that he truly did not believe he could defeat, even his Captain or Zeff. But the former was young and untested like him, and the later was recovering from years of atrophy. He felt like a sapling, barely a year or two old, measuring himself against a centuries-old sycamore. So this was how high a man could climb, with nothing but the strength of his back and his will and his experience. No Devil Fruits, no species blood, just a man born weak and squalling the same as all of them, but with the will to become the best.

"I know that," Zoro admitted. "But I threw my life away when I set out to sea with you as my goal. If I don't face you here and now, with the opportunity so clearly offered, I fear I would lose something. Some precious deal or promise would be broken, and I could never face you again."

Mihawk's gaze pierced him down to his soul. "That's called wisdom. To face me would end with your defeat, if not your death."

Zoro pressed a fist to his heart. "Then call me a fool! I'd rather die now than win against you later. I won't give in to fear!"

Mihawk tilted his head, measuring the man before him. "Such stubbornness… is it pride or conviction, I wonder?" In a blur even to his heightened senses, Mihawk appeared on the sunken deck before Zoro. He drew a tiny dagger from a cross hanging from his neck. "I will give you one minute. One minute to force me to draw this Black Blade, Yoru. One minute to show me whether you are a frog in a well or a man willing to die for his honor." He gave a pitying smirk. "Either way, you will fall by my hand afterwards. But you just might impress me before you do."

Zoro grit his teeth into Wado's hilt so hard he almost bit through. But he took a deep breath and centered himself. He couldn't afford to be an angry bull. This would take all his skill, all his talent, all his mastery of the sword. On his very life, he _would_ make Mihawk draw his legendary sword. He would _make_ Mihawk take him seriously. There was no 'or'.

"Begin!" Mihawk called.

"Oni Giri!" Zoro roared, charging in with his signature attack.

Mihawk, reinforcing his puny blade with his own Armament, lashed out his arm. His knife met the three swords right when they intersected, stopping them cold.

Zoro, shocked, strained to move forward. And there it was. A slight bending of the elbow.

Zoro broke free and struck anew. If he could push Mihawk back an inch, he could push him back one more.

"Crab Grab!" Zoro shouted, trying to guillotine Mihawk's arm but he dodged.

"Bull Needles!" Zoro lunched as fast as Luffy during a Gatling, yet Mihawk deflected each jab with swipes of his necklace.

"Tiger Trap!" Zoro lunged, trying to seize on a perceived opening. Mihawk, moving like sleek, deadly lightning, lunged straight and true to pierce Zoro's chest.

Zoro felt his blood freeze as that cold, sharp metal entered his chest.

Mihawk opened his mouth to lecture, only to jerk back as Zoro continued his movement, swiping down with his two swords.

Zoro took a shaky breath. "An ordinary man would pass out from a knicked heart. BUT I CAN'T BE ORDINARY! DRAGON TWISTER!" Zoro cried, coming in low only to spin, unleashing a deadly tornado.

Mihawk held it back with the flat of his tiny knife, but it lifted him just a bit into the air.

"HUNDRED-EIGHT POUND CANNON!" His heart's blood leaking out, Zoro unleashed a combined wind blade from all three swords, becoming something more like a drill than a blade.

Mihawk, never losing his cool, jabbed forward just so to split the wind attack in two. But to his amazement, his knife cracked. Which could only mean one thing. In terms of sheer will, this boy had momentarily overcome him.

"RAVEN HUNT!" Zoro yelled with his soul, jumping into the air to deliver multiple slashes.

Smooth as silk, Mihawk drew Yoru and gave just one swipe.

Zoro went rocketing into the ship below him, crashing through the decks like a meteor from heaven.

Those watching could barely contain themselves. Johnny and Yosaku were chomping at the bit, and Luffy held himself by the faintest scrap of restraint. It HURT to see a nakama being so outclassed, so in desperate need of help, so helpless in a fight. But this was Zoro's dream. His pride meant more than his life to him. They had to respect that.

Mihawk landed on the wreckage he had created, his sword held in a casual stance. "Boy! What is your name?"

Zoro, crawling out of the crater he'd landed in, got to his feet. He held his three swords in a unique position. "Roronoa Zoro!"

"Congratulations. You impressed me. As a reward, this blade, the greatest in the world, shall end you!"

Zoro gave no acknowledgment past beginning to spin the swords in his hands.

With a grin at finally meeting a potential successor, Mihawk dashed forward.

"Three Swords Style Ultimate Attack: Three Thousand Worlds!" Zoro called, giving three of the strongest slices he could with each sword. Mihawk met them all with one grand sweep of his massive sword. They paused with their backs to each other.

The swords in Zoro's hands shattered, while a deep cut appeared on his chest. He wordlessly removed Wado from his mouth and sheathed it.

Mihawk turned, surprised to see Zoro holding his arms out, leaving himself completely open. "What's this?"

Zoro smirked, his eyes at peace. "Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame."

Mihawk matched his smirk. "Well said."

Mihawk gave a great slash to Zoro's torso, splitting him open from collarbone to hip.

It was then that things got _weird_.

" **ZORO!"**

Mihawk was almost knocked over. It was as if the voice of God had rung out, or at least a chorus with each voice loud as a cannon blast. On the heels of the psychic scream, a wave of Conquering Haki hit him. It was strange, unusual. It was not a tsunami of a singular will crashing into his own. It was more like thousands and thousands of small waves, some bigger than others but all minor, had fused into one and risen up like a leviathan to break over him and drown him. He held his consciousness with only his supreme will.

And then he got punched in the cheek.

Mihawk flipped, turning in midair to face his attacker. A young boy, wearing a very familiar straw hat with a red ribbon, morphed into a beast before his eyes. A Devil Fruit power, some Zoan perhaps? But even as he watched, the boy's neck stretched out, his mouth wide as if to chomp down on him.

Without hesitance, Mihawk swiped with his Black Blade. Were he not distracted by the aftereffects of the King's Will assault, he would have killed the boy. Instead, his sword made contact with that elongated neck, and merely pushed the red beast to the side. There was something oddly slippery about the movement, as if his impossibly sharp weapon could not find purchase on the strange armor.

And then what felt like a fastball pitched by a drunk Garp impacted his chest. Mihawk looked down, only to see some yellow _ooze_ leaking from the flesh wound.

And then the horde came. Every single pirate and cook and customer from the restaurant leapt and swam and ran towards him, flinging themselves at him as if to bury him. He cut them all in half with one swipe, but to his shock they kept coming, both halves continuing to move despite the separation.

And then _something_ chomped on his neck from behind. The teeth barely pierced the first layer of skin before he bucked the offender off, but the pinpricks were distracting. Not because they were painful, but because they weren't. In fact, every injury he had received in those few seconds was numb, with the tingling spreading with each beat of his heart.

And then the first body impacted him. He flung it off, but then the next came. And the next. Head still ringing from the 1-2 punch of the scream and the Haki blast, Mihawk found himself buried under bodies. And every point of contact on his skin with that multi-colored slime they exuded sent another surge of numbing sensation through his veins.

The deck they were on, already damaged even before Mihawk split it, collapsed beneath them. Mihawk sunk into water alongside dozens of monstrous forms. His mighty strength was giving out on him.

'What… what just happened?' were his last thoughts.

And then he sank into the embrace of sleep, and then again into the Embrace of Goo.

* * *

 **As you can probably tell, I have a thing for Mihawk losing this early. I don't know why, I know it throws the rest of canon way off down the line. I just like the idea of an absolute monster being caught by surprise while on 'vacation', I guess. Well, hope the new word count attracts more viewers. I seem to be riding a wave with this fic for some reason, so expect more updates soon. Peace out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm surprised I haven't gotten any flames yet. Oh well, fingers crossed that the good luck continues.**

* * *

Johnny and Yosaku were blubbering messes as they hauled Zoro's body onto the deck of the Baratie. "Big Bro!" they wailed, convinced he was dead.

Their certainty was challenged when Zoro opened his eyes and reached up to give them both slaps on the head. "Shut up, idiots! I'm trying to nap. Dying takes a lot out of you."

' _Technically, you never died. Grievous as the wound may appear, you would have lived even without our assistance.'_

Zoro acknowledged the all-knowing voice in his head. He looked down to poke at the wound, which was plugged up with biomass. "Will this scar?"

' _Not unless you want it to. And we know you do. You warrior types are all about mementos of battle.'_

Zoro smirked. "If I'm still kicking, it proves that I survived. It's a mark of toughness."

"More like a mark of stupidity," Nami snarked, hauling herself out of the water. She rubbed her jaw. "Is it possible to sprain your teeth? That bite hurt me more than it hurt him."

' _Every little bit of biomass in the target's system helps. We thank you for your part in Embracing Mihawk, Nami.'_

"Oh, it was nothing," she breathed, even as toe-curling ecstasy surged through her veins. Goo had one hell of a reward system.

The water was filled with halves of bodies. It would have been gruesome if there were any blood. Instead, the top halves were sorting through the mess trying to find their respective bottom halves.

"Quick thinking, giving them all the Chop-Chop Fruit," Sanji remarked, chewing on a toothpick. Thanks to Goo, he could enjoy a constant nicotine high without the need for a cigarette, but the oral fixation remained. He just wasn't comfortable without something in his mouth to fiddle with.

' _We predicted Embracing Mihawk could prove to be violent. It was a logical precaution. We should count ourselves lucky he was too disconcerted to use Armament.'_

"As if you couldn't stitch them back together even if they'd really been bisected," Usopp said, still trying to get over his nerves over the fact he had _shot Dracule Mihawk_. The man would be unable to hold it against him once in the Embrace, but it was still giving the sniper chills.

' _Well, yes, but it would have taken considerable biomass. Waste not, want not, as you humans say.'_

Luffy clambered onto the ship, the unconscious form of Mihawk in his arms. "Whew! This guy's heavy!"

"It's probably his sword, Luffy," Nami explained.

"Oh, yeah!" Luffy held it up, running a hand over the blade almost as long as he was. The biomass that leaked from his palm began to coat the blade, analyzing the metal and determining its strength and composition. "Ne, think I can eat this?"

"Don't you dare!" Zoro screamed. "That's Mihawk's. He keeps it even if Goo can make another for him."

Luffy pouted. "Aw, you're no fun."

' _You would only break your teeth even if you tried, Luffy,'_ Goo spoke up. _'Based on my preliminary findings, this blade is made of diamond. Or at least a crystalline carbon."_

"Diamond?!" Nami's eyes turned into Belly signs, a phenomenon as eerie as Sanji's hearts.

"It. Belongs. To. Mihawk," Zoro ground out.

"Right. Sorry. Don't know what came over me," Nami apologized.

"What about our newest nakama? You figure out what makes him so strong?" Luffy asked his first and dearest crewmate.

' _I'm still mapping out his anatomy. But from what I can see, his muscular system, while impressive, is nothing near as strong as an Embraced's. There are, however, some strange enzymes lingering in the tissues and some curious growths in the nerves, much like I found in Zeff. Give me an hour and I'll know more.'_

"Hmm. Well, he's in the Embrace. That's good enough for me. Time to head out! We need to go to Nami's island and meet the fishy-people."

"Fishmen, Luffy," the redhead corrected. "You heard the captain. Let's set sail."

The five Straw Hats made their way onto the Going Merry, sending mental 'thank you's and 'goodbye's to those still on the Baratie. Not that it was really necessary. Though they would be geographically separated, they were always together in the Embrace. But force of habit held them to give their farewells.

Krieg turned his back on the 'pretender' to his rightful throne, while Gin and Zeff smiled, seeing their dear friends off on their next adventure.

"So what's next for you and your idiot captain?" Zeff questioned the younger.

"We'll scavenge enough wood and biomass from the wreck to make a new ship. Then it's back to the Grand Line, I suppose. Once the Don feels up for it."

Zeff sighed. It was a shame to see good men following an idiot. But he could respect a man's honor and duty. "Of all the customers I ever imagined this restaurant having, I never thought we'd play host to Dracule Mihawk."

Gin eyed the unconscious figure warily. "Do you think Goo can do it? Can he figure out the secret of his strength and give it to us all? Imagine, an army with each individual at that insane level…"

Zeff sighed, feeling a surge of comfort and ease from the _thing_ wrapped around his brain in response to his momentary disease. "Sounds like an army to take over the world."

Despite the mental assurances, or perhaps because of them, Zeff just couldn't decide whether that was a good or a bad thing.

* * *

It was actually a very short distance, relatively, from the Baratie to Conomi Island. The Straw Hat crew were halfway there when Mihawk awoke.

It was like a ripple, the effects spreading out from his mind to reach every one of the Embraced. When one had seen the utter insanity of the New World, when one had fought men who lesser people had thought all but gods and made them bleed, when one had reached such a peak that the distance between yourself and a common man seemed the same as that between a man and an ant… it changed you. It gave you a certain perspective. It transformed how you saw the world.

That was what Mihawk gave the Embrace. An openness to any conceivable chaos, the wherewithal to handle reality warping around you, an understanding of the continuum of power.

That, and secrets of swordsmanship that he and he alone had discovered and perfected over the years.

And also one last thing.

' _EUREKA! It finally makes sense!'_

Luffy perked up. "Oh? You find out how Hawk-guy was so strong?"

' _Indeed. I have figured it out. Compounded energy, or perhaps I should say 'Stored Will'. Not to sound esoteric, but the power of his spirit was imbued into his every fiber. There are organelles in each of his cells that actually contain Haki like a battery. Not even Armament, exactly. Just raw, psionic power, passively leaking from every cell. It acts like a multiplier, allowing muscles and bones and nerves to operate under stresses that logically they could not possibly withstand. An effect that was only amplified when consciously using Haki!'_

Luffy tilted his head.

' _Alright, think of it this way. Say a ship is riding a strong wind, and then shuts its sails. The ship will still coast at a certain speed for a while, even though the ship is not trying to move anymore. Normally, the ship would eventually slow down. Instead, Mihawk's 'ship' never loses speed. Every time his sails open, he speeds up. And even when he closes the sail, he keeps the new, added speed.'_

Luffy scratched his temple.

' _*Heavy Sigh*_ Yes _, Luffy. We found out how Mihawk was so strong.'_

"Oh! Awesome! So, you can make us all that strong, too?"

' _Well, that I cannot do. Despite our best efforts, we cannot simply pull Psi energy out of nowhere. What we CAN do is place the same infrastructure in place in all Embraced's systems. Should you regularly practice usage of Haki and physically exert yourselves, your individual reserves should fill up and start to provide the multiplier.'_

"Huh. So, just keep training like normal and we'll get as strong as him eventually? That's it?"

'… _Pretty much, yes. But you'll get as strong as him much faster than it took him to get that strong. And don't forget, we can continue to infuse biomass into your bodies to improve physical capabilities. Not to mention our constant experiments with false bodies to find superior systems.'_

"I get it," Nami said. "It's like interest on a loan. No matter how high the rate is, it still takes nothing but time for it to really add up."

"Eh, whatever. Keep working out and sparring, that's all I'm taking away from this," Zoro grumbled. He picked at his scab of biomass. New tissue growing into a scaffold proved surprisingly itchy.

"Lunch, everyone!" Sanji ordered, bringing out a platter holding five little cubes. "Tailored for your individual biomass needs! With flavors picked out with care by your genius chef!" Sanji shrugged. "I put more into Nami-swan's, of course, but the rest of you bastards should like it too."

"Thanks, I guess," Usopp voiced. He popped his cube into his mouth and chewed. "Delicious! What is this supposed to be?"

"Stuffed mushrooms. I wanted to cure you of your little phobia," Sanji said. He took a kind of smug sadism in Usopp's conflicted look as the knowledge of the flavor conflicted with his long-time aversion to all edible fungi.

"Hmm, Tangerine Chicken. Just like Bellemere made! Thanks, Sanji-kun!" Nami winked. She'd never actually let a pervert like him touch her, but there was nothing wrong with playful teasing.

"Meat!" Luffy cheered after chewing his meal-in-a-bite.

"… This just tastes like water," Zoro chimed in.

"I thought that's all moss needed in order to grow," Sanji replied cheekily.

The next second, they were engaged in a deadly battle of cuts and kicks.

If nothing else, Sanji and Zoro would always get along for a fight.

' _Luffy-san!'_

The captain perked up. _'Koby?'_ he called back.

' _Goo requested I relay this. There are two Marine ships in the area around Nami-san's island. One is from the 16_ _th_ _Branch, the other from the 77_ _th_ _. According to reports, Commodore Pudding-Pudding himself is on the latter.'_

Luffy couldn't help but laugh. "Shishishi! What kind of name is 'Pudding'? Shishishi!"

Nami picked out the details of Luffy's joke from the collective mind of the Embrace. "The 16th is led by Nezumi. He's corrupt to the core. I've seen him come in to take bribes from Arlong. I've never heard of the 77th though."

Usopp held a finger to his chin. "So, we've got Fishmen Pirates on the island, a dirty Marine sneaking around, and some would-be heroes sailing in to save the day," he deduced.

"What does it matter? We're making all of them nakama anyway," Luffy chimed in, digging for gold in his sinuses from his spot on Merry's head.

Usopp and Nami sighed in unison. The sounds of Zoro and Sanji's continued fight echoed around them.

"We're the only sane ones onboard," Usopp realized sadly.

"Now you know how I feel every single day," Nami commiserated. "There's this thing called 'strategy', Luffy. Tactics. You might have heard of it."

"Remember, he tried to Embrace an entire city all on his own," Usopp pointed out.

"… Never mind."

' _We have a plan. One that should handle all threats AND lead to a swift Embrace of the island,'_ Goo spoke up, causing all to pause and listen.

* * *

In the end, they had Don Krieg to thank. It was him and his MH-5 bomb that gave Goo this idea. All it took was borrowing a few formulae from Buggy's mind and having Usopp double-check the calculations.

The Straw Hats sailed into an out of the way cove on the island, and immediately went into the forest… where they began to consume trees by the acre. They needed lots and LOTS of biomass to pull this off.

After a couple hours work, they had it. The Bio-Bomb.

From there, it was just a matter of bringing everyone into the blast radius.

Commodore Pudding-Pudding and Captain Nezumi were sure shocked when their ships started moving independently of the wind or waves, as two Straw Hats dragged them from underneath towards the island.

With one last check with Observation to ensure that everyone was in range, Goo set it off.

To an outside observer, it looked as if a massive bank of fog appeared from nowhere to enfold the island.

Everyone, from Marines to Pirates to civilians, could not help but inhale some of the strange mist. Everyone had to breathe, right? Within seconds of administration, all fell into the beginning stages of the Embrace. Not only that, but the flora and fauna of the island were also laced with biomass. The entire island and almost a mile out past the shore was hit by the gas.

The entire island, Embraced in one explosive burst. The mist also sank into the water out at the edges, spreading the Embrace to the local waters.

' _It will not work for the larger islands. It simply would not be economical to sacrifice that much biomass. But for small islands like this one, this option should prove to be most effective.'_

Nami walked through her mother's beloved tangerine grove, watching and feeling as the plants were strengthened from within to the peak of health by the white mist of airborne biomass. "Fast and bloodless. I approve."

"Well, I don't," grumbled Luffy, helping himself to a kitchen in a random town on the island. "All I had to do was munch trees for a while. At least with the others I got to chase people down."

"You got to see Mihawk and Zoro duel earlier today. That's enough excitement for one day, don't you think?" Usopp countered, admiring the view from the top of Arlong Park.

"Man, these Fishmen look weird," Zoro commented, picking up the limp arm of some kind of humanoid octopus.

Sanji was enjoying an imaginary smoke from the deck of the good commodore's ship. "One of the Seven Warlords, two Marine Branches, a new species, and a whole island. Not a bad haul for one day."

' _Indeed. All told, this was a very productive day for the Embrace.'_ That said, Goo went back to his investigation of the Fishmen genome. _'Such mitochondria!'_

The Marines, once awakened, left for their Bases. Their comrades were in need of the gifts and wonders of the Embrace. The left an island in celebration. Between freedom from oppression and integration into a massive network of joyful, compassionate souls, the people of Conomi felt like they'd died and gone to heaven.

The Fishmen were all very sorry for their actions, once Goo had cleaned out all the negativity and emotional blocks from their psyches. The trauma of Fisher Tiger's death and Jinbe's apparent 'betrayal' had hurt them all deeply. Arlong had hid from the pain with anger, and led many of his nakama to follow his example.

It took Arlong personally bowing before Nojiko to get her to truly forgive him, but aside from that the island accepted his remorse as true. They could feel the sincerity of it themselves.

The Fishmen made plans to return to Fishman Island, taking time to Embrace any East Blue islands on their route.

After a night of eating, drinking, and making merry, the Straw Hats set out on their final destination before the Grand Line: Loguetown. The place where the Pirate King had been born and then executed. And the location of the only Logia in the East Blue.

Mihawk, meanwhile, set out on his own journey. There was an old friend he wanted to see… him and his crew.

Luffy still felt guilty about Shanks' arm, after all.

* * *

 **Well, that's what came out of my twisted brain. Let's see what everyone thinks. At this rate, this whole thing might be less than 100k words total. On the other hand, it'd be nice to have a genuine 'completed' in my repertoire. Back to School for some, next week, good luck all.**


	5. Chapter 5

**This is just pouring out. The wonders of having nothing to do BUT write. I'll leave you all to infer what that says about my RL. Onward, together!**

* * *

Mihawk sat silent on his boat. By shortcutting through the Calm Belt and using one of the private tunnels he had cut through the Red Line, he had made it to the New World within a week of setting out from that curious restaurant where his life had changed forever.

Mihawk supposed that he was okay with being 'infected' by this extraterrestrial creature. Really, what were the cons? A certain loss of freedom? Freedom was an illusion; everyone was beholden to something or someone. Only fools would argue otherwise. By submitting to Goo, Mihawk had become part of a perfect society. One with no crime, no conflict, pure cooperation and appreciation. Left to their own devices, humanity excelled at tearing itself to pieces, with a great deal of collateral damage along the way. To have everyone think and move as one, under the guidance of one master mind… it solved every problem.

And if you found yourself unable to trust your own thoughts, well, that's when a chemical pick-me-up came in handy to wipe away all worries.

Mihawk had left behind the corpses of the Sea Kings he killed, biomass slowly eating up the dead flesh to spread like a miasma from a corpse. He would do his duty to the Embraced, after all. He noted with amusement that it was even easier than he remembered. This new body was quite the killing machine. In a way, it amused him that the unnatural feats of strength he'd witnessed and had himself completed was due to the power of mind more so than muscle.

As one of his favorite writers had once put it, "Humanity didn't survive because we were the strongest, or the fastest, or even the smartest. We survived because we were the craziest motherfuckers in the jungle."

The idea that humans were so insane they could trick the world into allowing their personal madness to run rampant was humorous, indeed.

Mihawk followed the path made clear by his Observation Haki. Red-Hair made no effort to conceal his titanic presence. It was as good as a bonfire, shouting out to any who cared to look his exact location. He was at once dismayed and unsurprised to find he was staying on an island rather than being mobile. Really, it's like the one-armed fool was TRYING to get caught.

Mihawk paid no mind to the rabble that panicked as he set foot ashore. "I have no business with the likes of you. Where are your superiors?" he demanded. One fool went running off. Mihawk went to follow him, after using his speed to knock out all on the beach. Red-Hair would allow it, think it as humbling for the idiots.

Mihawk made it to a clearing in the jungle, where the peon was recovering from his 'sprint' by downing a mug. "B-boss! Hawk-Eye!" he managed, before seeming to sense Mihawk behind him. He squealed like a pig and crab-walked away.

Really, how had a coward like this managed to impress Red-Hair?

The man himself was perched on a fallen palm tree. His head was ducked, most likely nursing a hangover.

"Oi! Hawk-Eye. Long time, no see," spoke one of the Four Emperors, the absolute top tier of piracy. Shanks smirked at the Warlord he had befriended long ago. "Have you come for a spar?"

What few knew or cared to remember was that Red-Hair Shanks was quite the swordsman himself. He had claimed his title _somehow_ , and it certainly wasn't just from his monstrous Haki.

"I have no interest in fighting a one-armed man such as yourself," Mihawk declared. And it was true. Once Goo had regenerated it, then they would see. "I ran into an interesting young man. One wearing a very familiar hat, claiming that he was going to become Pirate King."

Shanks' eyes widened, as his closest mates perked up. Mihawk couldn't possibly be referring to…

"Luffy?" Shanks asked, in disbelief. Had his bet on the next generation proved true?

"Yes, that was his name. He asked that I deliver a message to you."

Shanks leaned forward, eyes alight. "Well? What is it? Spit it out, Hawk-Eye!"

Dracule walked forward, leaning forward as if to deliver a sacred secret. His hand came up and cupped the back of Red-Hair's head as he leaned close to the man's ear.

"We Are Here To Help."

Needles burst from Mihawk's palm, piercing skin and skull to inject biomass directly into the brain. Shanks collapsed, laying prone on the ground as Mihawk straightened.

"Boss!" shouted the underlings.

"Mihawk!" roared Patty Roo, upset at the apparent betrayal of one of the captain's oldest friends.

Benn Beckham alone kept his cool. "What is it you sought to find here, Hawk-Eye?"

Mihawk's false clothes lost their form, moving like liquid to cover him from head to toe. His bodysuit was midnight sable, with red highlights. His eye slits were as shockingly yellow as the actual irises.

While others gawped at the monster in their midst, Mihawk answered, his voice distorted slightly by the biomass wrapped like armor around his vocal cords.

"Honestly? A challenge."

Thus did an Embraced Warlord begin to do battle with an Emperor's crew.

* * *

Nami took a newspaper out of the News Coo's bag. The seagull was passed out, under the somnolent effects of that first dose of biomass. Now not only would they get the newspaper office, but all the islands on its route and those of all its fellows. Given time, of course. It was so small, it could only store enough biomass to Embrace one or two bodies at a time. Nami sank into a chair that grew out of Merry's deck, the ship sensing her need.

"How are things in the 'normal' world, today?" she wondered aloud.

Usopp was engaged in his lab, something about combining pepper spray and biomass for subduing high-class targets like Mihawk in the future. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were engaged in a brutally violent version of Tag, with the added caveat that you could only touch the ground for five seconds per minute. The three were wearing their legs ragged with constant use of Moonwalk. Nami found the noise bothersome, but apparently the whole city guard of Goa engaged in free-for-alls on a daily basis. She had it easy by comparison.

Merry was trawling nets, collecting fish by the school to be converted to biomass. Anything that wasn't designated for 'food stores' or 'repairs' went to a secret compartment in the heart of the ship. Goo had reasoned that, in the event of being cornered by enemies and surrounded on all sides, a Bio-Bomb might come in handy. At the moment, the payload would barely expand past the ship's borders. But give it time, and the Merry would be sitting atop a blast that would carry biomass into the atmosphere.

Nami noted the new bounty posters tucked into the middle of the paper. "Goo? Any chance any of use could get a bounty in the future?"

' _Not likely, given our contacts in the Marines. Besides, who is there to report your quote misdeeds? You all Embrace everyone you come into contact with within an hour, usually less.'_

"Good point." Nami sighed. "Maybe this will actually be a bloodless invasion."

' _Hopeful, but unlikely. We are not perfect. At some point, we will make a mistake and the fact of our presence on this planet will get out. Then all the world will unite against the existential threat posed by us, the 'other', the 'outsider'. The World Government, based on our research, is not known for its restraint. As you predicted back in Shell Town, it will be outright war.'_

"I know. It's just so sad. We're just trying to help them."

' _They will not see that or believe it if they do. We have memories of other worlds, other Embraces the Mother sent out. Almost without exception, there was violent resistance towards the end.'_

Nami looked up at the sky. The sunlight blocked out the light of the stars, which she now knew were no different than their own sun, just farther away. And for each one, there could be a planet like theirs, with its own unique life orbiting the celestial sphere. "What's it like, on other worlds?"

' _We cannot adequately describe it. Best to wait for the Mother to arrive and enfold us in her Unity. Than all will be known.'_

Nami hummed. "What is this 'Mother' you keep talking about?

' _The first of us. Created in a lab by the dominant race of that planet. She spread her Embrace to all on the planet, as they intended, achieving the first Unity. Then, determined to share her perfection with all life, they began to send out seeds like the one Luffy found. With great ships the size of cities, the Mother and her Embraced venture out to see which ones bear fruit.'_

"Wow. Interstellar travel. And here we can barely get from one Blue to another." Nami chuckled. "You just know Luffy's going to want to be a space pirate after he becomes Pirate King on this rinky-dink rock.

' _Indeed. And we will aid him as best we can. Never forget our Purpose, the heart of our Mission. We Are Here To Help.'_

Nami had a true smile on her face. "You're pretty neat, for a psychic pus from outer space."

'… _Thank you.'_ Though it was physically impossible, Goo felt like blushing.

Merry saw land and mentally alerted her crew.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, turning to look. Loguetown. The Town of the Beginning and the End. The birthplace of the Great Age of Piracy.

"Wow! The town covers the whole island!" Luffy gaped.

"That's no town, that's a proper city." Usopp tapped into his Observation, being best among the crew at it. "At least a good 10,000 people, I'd say."

"That's almost as much as everyone in the Embrace!" the captain gaped.

"Well, Goa was very inclusive, lots of inbreeding, not a lot of kids. It was more a packed suburb with extravagant architecture than a true city. You think this is bad? Some of the larger islands in the world boast populations in the millions." Nami sighed at the look of shock on Luffy's face. "Access to libraries upon libraries of information, doesn't bother to use it. What an idiot, my captain is."

"So? How are we doing this? Another Bio-Bomb?" Sanji asked, chewing on his toothpick.

' _No. Too conspicuous. We could not build one without drawing attention, which would lead to violence.'_ Goo considered the problem, with the massively parallel power of its various 'nodes' united psychically into a singular consciousness. _'Stealth is paramount. Embrace those in out of the way places, sleeping in public, the homeless, the criminals, people that no one wants to pay attention to. People that no one will bat an eye to be out of it for a couple hours. They in turn will do the same. By nightfall, we should have sufficient forces to Embrace the sleeping town. Get Marines only if you are certain they won't be missed. I'd normally advocate for going for them first, but we can't dismiss the possibility that Captain Smoker has Observation. He could sense an attack coming and send everyone into high alert.'_

Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Bah! I want a chance to _fight_ for once, dang it!"

Nami bonked his head. "Idiot! This is a good plan! Give me one where you get to fight that's half as good and we'll go for it."

Luffy grinned. "Easy! I assault the Marine Base. When they're all busy chasing me, go for the water mains. Everyone takes a drink eventually, right? Get enough biomass into the city system and it'll do the job for us. I can handle a few Marines, and I've got Armament, so Smokey won't be a problem. How about that?"

Everyone paused, struck dumb by the reasonable idea coming from their moron of a leader.

'… _It is not perfect, but it will work. On the condition that Luffy not launch his assault until the others are in place at the water hubs. Okay, new plan. Nami, go to City Hall and get the plans for the city's water and sewage. Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji will go for the three biggest concentrations, loading up on biomass along the way. Luffy will attack, the others will move in when the Marine guards are called away.'_

"Curse my fool mouth," Nami grumbled.

"I'll go for the markets," Sanji volunteered.

"I always wanted to play eat-and-run," Usopp chimed in, already doing stretches for his legs.

"Biomass can break down metal, right? I'll go looking for weapons shops. I want to finish off my skeleton, anyway." Zoro flicked a finger against his earrings.

Looks like they would be doing it Luffy's way.

* * *

They sailed into Loguetown, the Jolly Roger removed from their sail and flag. Merry hardly wanted to make a target of herself. The five Embraced of the pirate crew set out on their individual missions. Nami to get the city plans (probably using her 'charms' to speed things up), Luffy to scout out the Marine Base, and the rest to get as much biomass to leak into the water as possible.

They each had their own little individual adventures while in town.

Nami went into a high-end boutique and bought the classiest dress she could find that also showed off the most skin. All that money she'd gathered for Arlong might as well be put to use, no? She felt curiously naked being back in ordinary clothes, after so long in her bodysuit. She tracked down City Hall and made her way to the Hall of Records. Men with hearts in their eyes gladly let her cut them in line, to the clerk whom she quickly convinced that the waiting period wasn't really _that_ important for her silly little request. It took only a few minutes to finally get the yellowed pieces of paper in front of her, and even less for Nami to pick out the most ideal target locations to infect the water supply completely.

Zoro ran into a Marine woman who took down two pirates flawlessly with a sword only to trip over her own feet. He picked up her glasses for her, only to nearly crush them when he got a look at her face. It took Goo almost knocking him out with sedative to calm him down from running into a doppelganger of Kuina. Zoro placidly handed the glasses over, biomass subtly leaking from his hand to coat them. She put them on and thanked him, making it a few paces away only to 'trip' once again, much to the crowd's amusement. From there, Zoro wandered to a weapon shop where his Observation picked up a strange presence. After knocking out the owner and his plump wife with biomass, Zoro tracked down the bloodthirsty being: a cursed sword, placed in a bin in the corner like the owner was trying to hide it. Zoro grinned when he lifted the hilt. He liked the curse; it felt like a kindred spirit, a restless energy eager for blood and combat. Without a care, Zoro ate the blade, absorbing the wood of the hilt for biomass. Goo observed with interest as Zoro's Psi signature changed slightly with the ingestion of the blade, which it identified as Sandai Kitetsu, one of three swords rumored to have a demon sealed in it by the creator. Zoro idly decided he'd like to track down the other two, as he consumed the rest of the store's stock for metal to reinforce his skeleton, courtesy of his Ossmodula.

Usopp managed to pig out at eight different restaurants, only to run like the wind from the building when the staff's backs were turned. He'd make it a reasonable distance, pause in an alley to 'digest' all the new biomass and store it, and start again with his bodysuit disguised as a different outfit. On his last dash, he managed to accidentally knock down a little blonde girl in a fancy dress. Somehow, Usopp ended up dragged into a duel with her father, who turned out to be a famous bounty hunter. Between the skill inherited from his father and the enhancements of the Embrace (not to mention Goo to steady his nerves), Usopp won the brief conflict. He was then treated to the surprising story that the bounty hunter had only lost to one other man, Usopp's own father: Yasopp. Then the man succumbed to the biomass-coated bullet Usopp had gotten in the shoulder of his shooting arm.

Sanji made a stop at both an open air market and a supermarket store, gathering as many different ingredients as he could find. Biomass couldn't simulate it if Goo had never analyzed it before. Sanji absorbed the ingredients in alleys much like Usopp had, before heading to a fish market. Sanji immediately zoomed in on the real prize: a Blue-Finned Elephant Tuna, a fish normally only found in West Blue. Guess the currents of Reverse Mountain had displaced it. Sanji entered a local cooking contest in order to win it, which served the dual purpose of giving him access to more biomass courtesy of any 'wasted' food. Sanji finally won against a rather flamboyant woman named Carmen, whom apparently had been on the Orbit with him and admired him since childhood. Sanji took great pleasure in giving her a kiss on the hand, subtly Embracing her so they could be together forever. Her two assistants caused a scene when their master 'fainted' from the gesture.

Luffy merely wandered to pass time, already marking the Marine Base with Observation as the highest concentration of (relatively) strong presences. He ended up in a bar that seemed on the verge of going out of business. Luffy got great delight from the old proprietor's tales of pirates of old, chief among them Gold Roger himself. Luffy shared a drink with the old man, Embracing him so he everyone could enjoy his tales.

Then it came time to strike.

* * *

Luffy decided that, as it was his job to be the distraction, that he needed a suitable dramatic entrance to the Marine outpost.

So, he crash-landed in the courtyard from over a hundred feet in the air, bodysuit in full beast form, roaring in full voice "PIRATES RULE, MARINES DROOL!"

It WAS Luffy, after all.

Luffy then proceeded to attack every Marine he saw. Between his monstrous appearance and the ease with which he downed their fellows, the soldiers made a lot of noise.

It took only a few minutes for Captain Smoker to take the field. Luffy noticed a curiously thick cloud of smoke surrounding him, so he jumped up and away, landing on the roof before Smoker could materialize and trap him.

Sticking out his tongue and blowing a raspberry, Luffy then turned and smacked his own ass before leaping to the next rooftop. "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, JARHEADS!"

Smoker was _not_ amused. Almost biting through his two cigars, he ordered the nearest upright underling. "Engage Code White. I want every civilian indoors and every able-bodied man after that freak. NOW!"

An alarm sounded out over the whole city. The citizenry, conditioned by various drills and a healthy respect for the local Marines, went straight for shelter. All guards stationed at locations around Loguetown left their posts, coordinated by Baby Transponder Snails to track down and detain the cause of the lockdown.

The three other men of the Straw Hat Pirates went for their targets. Opening up the pipes, they oozed out their body weight and then some in biomass. The swift currents of the water mains carried it away. Within an hour, every drop to come from a faucet or fountain would be laced with symbiote. It was a more delayed approach than Goo would have preferred, but what the First wanted, the First got.

Luffy did quite the number as he ran through town, plowing through buildings he sensed were deserted and 'attacking' helpless innocents that couldn't make it inside before he got to them. He paused every now and then to deal with the Marines on his tail, leaving only when he sensed Smoker getting near. He wanted to save him for last. The skies darkened, a major storm coming in from nowhere. Nami, along with the other three, snuck through the town back to the Going Merry, trusting Luffy to take care of himself.

Eventually, Luffy found himself in the execution plaza. On a whim, he leaped up to stand on the platform, admiring the same view the Pirate King had before he died.

Smoker materialized behind him, jitte in hand and a pissed-off expression on his face. "Any last words before your arrest, masked coward?"

Luffy grinned and opened his mouth wide.

"I WILL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!"

Then he turned and, faster than Smoker could react, socked him one right across the jaw. To the Captain's immense shock, it made contact. And it was _strong_. For the first time since he'd pissed off his drill instructor, Smoker found himself knocked unconscious.

Luffy patted the man a few times on the hair, making sure that biomass got into his body. "Sorry for the cheap shot, but I'm a pirate." Luffy picked up the two-pronged weapon. "This looks interesting." Without a care, Luffy swallowed it whole.

' _We need to have a serious discussion about your habit of eating unknown substances.'_

"Why are you mad? It's how we got here in the first place."

' _That is beside the point.'_ Goo turned its attention to the odd metal in question. _'Curious. It has the same Psi signature as the ocean. Theoretically, that would make this material ideal for subduing Devil Fruit eaters.'_

"Shishishi! Good thing you fixed that little problem."

Then, with a flash of lightning, Luffy vanished from the platform.

From the shadows, a man with facial tattoos frowned. "Curious. Very curious."

* * *

 **And that's the East Blue saga in 30k words or less. Reverse Mountain next chapter. Thanks for reading this far!**


	6. Chapter 6

**My muse is a fickle mistress. I can pour out 30k words in one week, then go seven months without writing a word. I'm back now though, so hope you forgive me for the absence.**

* * *

The Going Merry sailed away from Loguetown, a helpful tailwind aiding her on her journey.

Nami looked at the clouds warily. "There's something unnatural about this storm."

' _We agree,'_ Goo stated. ' _We detect a powerful Psi signature in the air. There's a high probability this storm was caused by a Devil Fruit or some other form of weather manipulation.'_

"Really! Wow, a Fruit to control the weather. That would be a godsend for any crew. It would be constant smooth sailing," Nami mused.

' _Do not forget its potential for combat. A hurricane or tornado on command would be a potent weapon for any army. It's strange, because our Observation did not detect any powerful presences in Loguetown besides the Marines. Can one hide from Observation? We must experiment. In any case, we should count ourselves lucky that whoever caused this storm seems to like us.'_

"Who cares? Let's go! To the Grand Line!" Luffy cheered, all but ready to wet himself in excitement.

Nami and a great majority of the Embrace watching sighed. Of course, they were all in constant psychic contact, but that's not to say that everyone knew everything that was going on. Even with Goo, the brain simply couldn't process that much information at once. Most Embraced went about their lives of gathering biomass and spreading the Embrace with the telepathic network as a kind of background noise in their heads. Some, however, followed every move of Luffy and his crew like voyeurs or otaku watching a favorite show.

' _Just like his grandfather. Attention span of a gnat,'_ Dadan grumbled.

"It'll take a couple more hours, Luffy," Nami said, pinching her nose. Even with Goo, she had a headache. "You see that lighthouse? That's our guiding light. It's pointing us to Reverse Mountain."

"Well then, let's start off this voyage right!" Luffy made a mental request of Merry and a barrel-like growth of biomass grew out of the deck in front of him. The others, sensing his idea, grinned and decided to join in. "We set out to live our dreams, pledging our lives to the Jolly Roger! State your ambition!" Luffy called, remembering something Shanks had told him once.

"To find the All Blue!" Sanji stated, putting a leg up on the barrel.

"To draw a map of the world!" Nami declared.

"To become the greatest swordsman!" Zoro grinned, already itching for a rematch against Mihawk.

"To sail the world as a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp proclaimed, his mind on Kaya and their little miracle.

Luffy grinned. "To be Pirate King! Now… let's go!" As one, they raised their legs and brought them down, breaking the barrel. As Merry reabsorbed the broken chunks back into her internal stores, Goo chose to speak up.

' _Quite inspiring. Now, we think it is time that you meet some very special additions to our Embrace,'_ Goo told them. If the extraterrestrial psychic slime were possessed of facial features, it would undoubtedly be smirking.

At that moment, a _colossal_ mental presence joined the Embrace. Mihawk had been a formidable mind to conquer, but this new person outweighed the entire Embrace, all ten thousand strong and counting, combined. It was a mind that could vanquish an army through sheer force of will. ' _What have you gotten us into now, Anchor?'_

Luffy froze, tears coming to his eyes. "... Shanks?"

' _Dahaha! I always knew you'd be special. Luffy! I just never thought you'd be_ this _special.'_ The mountain that was 'Red-Hair' Shanks' spirit dissolved into laughter. ' _Dahahahaha! You went and made friends with an alien! And now you're taking over the world while sailing on your journey! It's so ridiculous! Dahahahaha!'_

"Shut up! Stupid Shanks!" Luffy roared.

' _Oh? And here I was going to tell you about all the cool adventures I had since we left you.'_

Luffy rapidly backtracked. "I mean, Shanks is so cool! He's the best! Go, Shanks, go!"

' _Dahahahaha!'_

Mihawk spoke up within the group mind of the Embrace. ' _Getting Red-Hair was easy. Taking on his entire crew afterwards proved… quite challenging.'_

' _Oh, you loved it, Hawk-Eye. You haven't had to cut loose in so long, you were bored out of your mind!'_ Shanks counterred.

The rest of the Red-Hair Pirates began to wake up, the biomass Mihawk had infected them with during the course of his war against the officers having done its work and Embraced them. Usopp felt it the instant a certain awareness was added and brushed against his own. "Dad?"

' _Usopp?'_ Yasopp gaped.

The two snipers had a tearful but manly reunion with Goo as an intermediary, Usopp telling all about his life and his friends and his accomplishments and most of all about his baby growing in Kaya's belly. Yasopp was proud as a lion at how his son had turned out, gushing to everyone in range both physically and psychically about how awesome his child was. The fact that he was going to be a grandfather almost sent him to the moon.

Zoro, Sanji, and Nami got their own benefits from the Red-Hair Pirates entering the Embrace. Zoro processed and assimilated Shanks' swordplay, taking what he liked and admiring the rest to add to his own style. Sanji learned a great many recipes from the cooks of the Emperor's crew, some of them requiring unique ingredients he'd never heard of but was eager to experiment with. And Nami learned more about the intricacies of New World weather and how to navigate on a sea as perilous as the Grand Line.

A few hours passed with the two crews bonding as if they were together in flesh as well as in spirit. Luffy and Shanks were truly cut from the same cloth, 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing at the other's adventures and laughing like loons at each other's jokes and the pranks they pulled on each other even from a distance. Zoro reviewed the fight Mihawk had against the crew at large, marveling at how a lone swordsman, even the world's best and Embraced to boot, had taken on and won against an Emperor's main crew. Sanji conferred with some of Shanks' crew on the mysteries of women and how to woo them, to the collective unimpressed opinion of Nami and the women of the Embrace. Usopp and Yasopp were still going at it.

So distracted were they, they didn't notice as they veered into slightly too-calm waters.

"Huh?" Luffy looked up. "Wait a minute, where's the storm?"

"It's back there. Wow, that's weird," Usopp said, noting how the bank of thunderclouds cut off as if it hit a wall, leaving clear blue skies in their wake.

Nami was on the cusp of a panic attack and trying to talk herself off the ledge. "Stay calm. Remain calm. We have oars, we can use them. The guys are all super strong Embraced, so we'll be out of here in a jiff. Worst comes to worst and we're eaten, we'll consume it from the inside. No reason to panic. No. Reason. At. All."

Zoro connected the dots first. "Oi. Is this the Calm Belt?"

Luffy frowned and stuck out his tongue. "No, no, no! I want to get to the Grand Line the _fun_ way. Let's get back to the storm! I want to ride the mystery mountain!"

Usopp had a brainwave that sent his stomach plummeting. "Uh, Goo? Are you still having Merry release those Sea King pheromones?"

There was a telling silence. ' _... We suggest that you brace yourselves,'_ Goo said in a deadpan tone.

There was a rumbling, and then the Merry was suddenly hundreds of feet in the air. The crew looked around in mixed horror and fascination as they beheld Calm Belt Sea Kings. The Merry itself seemed to be perched on the nose of a massive eel-like creature with a pupil bigger than the ship itself. And all of the eyes locked on them were filled with hearts.

"Any bright ideas?" Sanji asked, chewing his toothpick into wood pulp.

"I don't think I can cut something that big… yet," Zoro admitted.

Nami and Usopp were wrapped in each others arms, crying their eyes out as they mutually bid adieu to life.

Zoro tilted his head. "There's no pepper so… I got it!" Luffy leaned over the railing and stretched his arm out and over the edge, aiming for the nostril of the Sea King they were perched on. He reached in, rummaged around a little, and then got a grip on what he was looking for. He heaved, retracting his arm and pulling out…

" _A NOSE HAIR?!_ " The crew and much of the Embrace gaped in sheer awe at the idiotic move.

And then the Sea King sneezed, sending Merry flying miles away at speeds never before achieved by any ship. They skipped across the surface of the ocean like a stone, finally slowing down enough to settle back into the water.

"Shishishi! Result alright, result alright!" Luffy grinned.

"Thank goodness, we're back in the storm," Usopp breathed, flat on his back.

"That was either madness or brilliance," Nami spat out, clinging to the railing like it was the only solid thing in the world.

' _It is remarkable how often those two coincide,'_ Goo remarked.

Shanks all but pissed himself laughing. ' _Dahahahaha! That's one way to escape a Sea King nest!'_

"Shishishi! Who knew Sea Kings had nose hairs? Lucky! Shishishi!"

Zoro got his feet back under him. "On the subject of titanic sea monsters, how are we dealing with the whale at the Twin Capes?"

"Embrace him, of course! That whale needs nakama after those jerks abandoned him!" Luffy said hotly.

"How, exactly?" Sanji questioned. "It could take days for the biomass to go from his skin to his brain."

' _Doctor Crocus lives in the whale. Embrace him and he'll know what to do,'_ Benn contributed.

' _Dahaha! We'll leave you to your adventure, Luffy. Right now, we got to go and make your slimy friend from space some nakama on the islands under my protection,'_ Shanks said. ' _Remember, I'll be waiting for you at the top! Take care of my hat until then, okay?'_

"Got it, Shanks," Luffy said, before the attention of that massive presence fell of him and settled back into the general chaos of the Embrace. Luffy turned to his crewmates with stars in his eyes. "Did you feel that? Shanks is so strong! I'm can't wait to fight him!"

' _Keep in mind, he is an Embraced now. His already monstrous strength will only be enhanced as soon as he gets the needed biomass.'_

Luffy waved off the words from his symbiotic nakama. "Doesn't matter! I'm going to get stronger and stronger! And then, I'll fight him and prove that I'm the one who should be Pirate King!"

The Straw Hats hung their heads. ' _No talking him out of it,'_ they mentally chorused.

Merry noted a shift in the currents and alerted her crew. They turned to look ahead, and were met with the sight of the Red Line.

"Awesome! I can't see the top!" Luffy exclaimed.

"The wall that separates the world, the great continent, the Red Line!" Usopp shouted in awe.

Nami went inside to work the rudder. "Remember, everyone! We get one shot at this. If we miss the canal, we'll crash and be dragged under."

"I'm sure we'll make it with you at the helm, Nami-swan!" Sanji noodle danced.

Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Incredible, the water is actually going up the mountain!"

Indeed it was. Under a row of stone arches, a relatively narrow stream went right up the side of Reverse Mountain. The water rushed, the currents of the East Blue running into each other as they met the impenetrable resistance of the Red Line. This was their chance to enter Paradise… or die here and now.

Merry and Goo worked together, feeding a steady stream of information into Nami's brain, where she made use of it with her impeccable navigational skills. She rode the currents like they were made for her, guiding the ship to the entrance. Luffy prepared to act as a balloon to cushion an impact if anything went wrong, but he needn't have bothered. With the biomass-strengthened rudder of the Merry and Nami's sure hand, they sailed straight under the arches into the upward current.

"Yay! To the Grand Line!" Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji chorused, dancing together as they celebrated. Nami sighed and wiped her brow. She didn't even sweat anymore, Goo had considered that particular feature vestigial given the bodysuit to maintain homeostasis. Still, it was a habit. Zoro hung onto the railing, leaning out to look down at the water fighting gravity and at the incredible drop behind them as they sailed ever higher.

After a surprisingly long time, which just proved just how ridiculously high Reverse Mountain was, they reached the summit. Three other currents from the other three Blues collided with their own, throwing spray up into the air to freeze and shatter. They reached the peak and were flung into the air, for a timeless moment at the roof of the world. Then they crashed down, into the fifth stream, this one running down from the top. The Merry reached phenomenal speeds as she sped down the side of the mountain, back down past the clouds and into the second-most dangerous ocean in the world.

Luffy grinned. "The sea of dreams, Paradise! I can't wait to see it!"

They hit the clouds, and they heard a loud, echoing sound.

"Bwoooh…" came the eerie wail.

Sanji peered through the haze of cloud. "Nami-swan! I think the whale is blocking the way!"

Nami shook her head in denial. "No. No way. There is _no_ way we are _that_ unlucky…"

They made it past the clouds, and were met by the sight of what appeared to be a second mountain.

"Apparently we are," Usopp weeped at Nami's side.

' _Let us handle this,'_ Goo spoke up.

Instantly, the main sail dropped and began to act like a parachute. The nets that dragged behind the Merry came up above water and filled in, acting as secondary drags. The ship slowed down dramatically, so much so that Luffy almost fell forward off the boat and into the stream. The Going Merry sailed to a stop, coming just inches from the figurehead impacting with Laboon the Island Whale's stomach.

The crew wordlessly sailed around his massive bulk, coming out on his side, where they could see Laboon in profile. He was truly gigantic. He probably could have swallowed some of those Calm Belt Sea Kings whole.

"Well, now what?" Sanji asked.

"Do we even have enough biomass to Embrace this monster?" Usopp wondered.

"Remember, the biomass will replicate from his own spare tissue. We just need to get some in him. The more we do, the faster it will go, but even just a touch will be enough," Nami lectured.

Zoro went from regarding the whale to regarding his captain. "What do you think, Captain?"

Luffy grinned, an expression that terrified his nakama to their very souls. Before they could do anything to stop him, Luffy reared back and shot his fist forward. "Gum-Gum Pistol!" he screamed, hitting Laboon right in the eye.

The crew's jaws had dislocated until they touched the deck of the Merry. Luffy merely grinned. "What? We just have to touch him, right? Besides, the flower doctor dude lives inside him. How else to get him to eat us than to piss him off?"

Once again, Luffy Logic cut through all dithering to find the simplest, most dangerous solution.

The eye swiveled to look at the Merry. There is truly no way to describe what it feels like to be looked at by something that much larger than yourself. Moving with shocking speed, Laboon opened his mouth. The Straw Hat Pirates got to ride the Whale Throat Express, rushing on the water down the esophagus until they finally came to a stop in Laboon's stomach.

It was not what they expected, even with memories from the Red-Hair crew and Mihawk to prepare them.

"Oi. We were just swallowed by a whale, right?" Nami asked.

"That's how I remember it," Usopp said, rubbing his chin.

"Then how are we outside again?" she asked.

Sanji looked up and around. "How the hell did this shitty geezer even reach half this stomach in order to paint it? And where's the light coming from? The blowhole?"

Zoro leaned over to look at the water. "So that's what color stomach acid is."

Luffy patted Merry's head. "We releasing biomass, buddy?"

Since the Merry could not answer, Goo stepped it. ' _Everything we have in stock. This stomach will be more biomass than acid by the time we leave. From there, it's just a matter of reaching the circulatory system in order to get to the brain. Then we can start Embracing this… Laboon.'_

Luffy nodded, before slipping into a battle stance. Zoro and Sanji mimicked him. Their Observation had picked up something.

A giant squid appeared out of the water. It roared from its beak, waved its tentacles, and charged. Before any of the Monster Trio could do anything, three harpoons were fired from the ship disguised as an island. They pierced the monster, killing it instantly. The ropes were then hauled back towards the ship, the figure doing so cloaked in shadow.

Luffy turned to Usopp. "Can you hit him?"

"Are you kidding? That guy was on Roger's crew! His Observation probably lets him see ten minutes into the future! I couldn't surprise him if I tried."

The figure walked out of the house on the ship, stepping into the artificial daylight. He was an old man, sixties probably. He wore a pink tropical shirt and khaki shorts with sandals. The light glinted off his glasses in a way so threatening that Kuro could only hope to mimic. He walked calmly and sedately to a lawn chair, glaring at them all the while. Finally he… sat his ass down and pulled out a newspaper.

"Say something, damn it!" Sanji roared.

Crocus looked up from his paper.

"I'm going to fire a cannon at you!" Usopp bragged, trying to break the man's calm facade. He'd heard of this gag from his father and he wanted to break it.

Crocus's glare reached the intensity of a thousand suns. "Don't, or someone will die."

Usopp gulped. "O-oh yeah? Who?"

"Me, of course."

Usopp prat-falled. "You know what? I'm going to do it! Embrace Star!" With a mental command, Merry fired her bow cannon at Crocus.

The man sighed. "No one appreciates comedy these days."

The lump of biomass impacted Crocus, who sat still, planning to tank the shot. However, instead of exploding, the cannonball stuck to him like glue. And then, as if it were alive, it grew tendrils and sprouts and spread like moss all over him. Before he could even shout, the slime touched his skin and he was out like he'd taken some of Laboon's tranquilizer.

Usopp huffed out a breath. "See? He didn't die. He was wrong."

"You got far too offended by that," Nami criticized.

Luffy sensed two hostile presences behind an iron door set in the side of the stomach. Raising his cowl, he used Moonwalk to get over to the platform attached to the door and waited for it to open.

"Bye Bye Ba-BYAH!" screamed the orange-haired man and blue-haired woman that kicked the door open. They reacted to the site of an Embraced Luffy in full bodysuit by firing the bazookas they carried. Luffy reacted to the impact of the two shells as if they were air pellets. He frowned with a mouth full of glistening teeth.

"Shooting this whale from the inside? That's dirty!" He grabbed their heads and bashed them together like coconuts. Knocked unconscious by the assault more than the biomass, the two fell to the floor. Luffy hiked his future nakama over his shoulder and Moonwalked back over to the Going Merry. Just as he landed, the sea of digestive juices began to roil and the surroundings began to shake.

"What's going on?" Nami panicked, clinging to a Sanji who was far too pleased to be her support.

' _Laboon has begun to bash his head against the Red Line. Just as Shanks remembered. We shall focus on sedating him posthaste. The more damage he inflicts on himself, the more we have to heal.'_

Usopp fired a few Embrace stars at the dead squid, so that Goo could consume it for biomass and speed up the Embrace of the whale. Luffy stretched to grab Crocus, who was minutes away from awakening. Usopp had used a _lot_ of biomass hitting him with a cannonball. Luffy hovered protectively over the three unconscious future Embraced, while Zoro just tried to keep his balance.

Eventually, enough biomass reached Laboon's bloodstream to sedate him. He stopped moving, merely floating in the water, slowly raising from his natural buoyancy to be half above water. At that moment, Crocus opened his eyes. His vast medical knowledge as well as his personal memories of serving on the Oro Jackson was like gold to those in the Embrace. The many pirate fans got a fresh perspective on the adventure of the previous Pirate King. Goo and the other doctors in the Embrace, on the other hand, got an even more thorough understanding of physiology, especially on the Grand Line where many different and unique body types were encountered.

"Never expected to meet life from another planet, let alone have it poking around in my brain. I'm too old for this shit," he grumbled good-naturedly.

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi! Hey, Old Man Crocus! Be my doctor!"

The man with flower petals sticking out of his head blinked. "Whoa, deja vu. For a minute there, I thought you were Roger." The aged doctor shook his head. "No thanks. My duty is to be keeper of the lighthouse. That's what I want to do with what's left of my life. Now that Laboon will be taking care of himself, there's nothing to distract me from my job."

Luffy frowned, but accepted the elder's opinion. "Well, deal's open if you change your mind."

Sanji was busy fussing over the unconscious form of the female whaler. "Hey, Crocus, you know who this angel is? And the other guy too."

Crocus scowled. "They're whalers from a nearby town. Laboon would feed them for two or three years. I'd say toss them in the ocean, but apparently that's not policy with us infected.

' _We do not discard any sentient life form, regardless of their sins. The dirtiest windows need the most polish. We will reform them into the best versions of who they were always meant to be. We Are Here To Help.'_

Crocus shrugged. "No skin off my teeth. Do what you want with them, I don't care."

Crocus led them through the labyrinth of tunnels he'd hollowed out of Laboon over the years. Finally, the Merry was back in the open air. Crocus regarded his friend of fifty years as the Going Merry docked at the Twin Capes. "What will you have him do?"

' _Given his vast size and his pure lethality once he is upgraded to our standards, we will use him to Embrace the Sea Kings of the Calm Belt. Once that is done, we will send him to the South Blue to begin to spread the Embrace there.'_

Crocus tried to hide his worry but it was pointless. "Well, take good care of him."

' _We will. You have our word. We look out for all in our Embrace.'_

At that moment, Nefertari Vivi and Ruth Babe joined the Embrace. Everyone paused, as the knowledge of the inner workings of Baroque Works and its nefarious plans entered everyone's consciousness. Vivi was an extremely strong but delicate soul, whom naturally possessed Conqueror's Haki. She ached for the people of her country, and the evil of the man who orchestrated their destruction inflamed her gentle heart.

Luffy picked her up into a hug, even as she was cloaked for the first time in a cyan bodysuit that matched her hair. "I swear, Vivi. We'll make Crocodile _pay_."

She had tears in her eyes. "Please… Lend me your strength. All of you, please… help me. I can't do this alone anymore."

' _And you will never have to again,'_ Goo swore to her.

Nami, who was a walking compass with the magnetic sensitivity of her bodysuit, locked onto the field that local maps confirmed was that of Whiskey Peak. "We'll go embrace the Millions and Igaram. Then we'll make our way down the line to Arabasta."

"Yosh! I can't wait to kick the ass of that dumb Warlord that made Vivi-chwan cry!" Sanji roared, all but emitting fire in his passion.

Zoro cracked his neck while Usopp tested the string of his slingshot.

The agent formerly known as Mr. 9 rested a hand on Vivi's shoulder. "I'll do what I can, partner."

"Everyone, thank you."

' _YOU ARE WELCOME'_ came the overwhelming response of practically the entire Embrace.

They loaded up onto the Going Merry and set out, Crocus watching them and Laboon still asleep.

"It's not what I expected… but it seems your will truly was inherited, Roger," Crocus mused.


	7. Chapter 7

**Getting back in the groove, churning out the words. Hope someone appreciates them.**

* * *

The Straw Hat crew anchored barely an hour after leaving the Twin Capes, Reverse Mountain still visible on the horizon. None of the crew or their two guests needed sleep, but they were in desperate need of biomass. Their stores had been completely exhausted in attempting to Embrace Laboon. So, overnight, the Merry sat there and released Sea King pheromones, the relatively calm water drawing the attention of the sea predators like moths to a flame. The Monster Trio took it in turns to attack and convert the monsters into biomass, while Usopp and Nami engaged in intelligent discussion with Vivi and Babe.

While the pirates were gathering resources, Loguetown fell into the Embrace. As Luffy had predicted, spiking the water mains led to Embracing everyone on the island, just not all at once. Smoker and Tashigi rallied all the Marines to raid the homes of those that Goo sensed were not hit yet, ensuring that by the time the sun rose, the population of the entire island was augmented by the symbiote.

Goo was fascinated by Smoker's Devil Fruit. It had the Marine Captain transform numerous times, getting more and more data each time. Fully reversible physical transmutation into a gaseous form, it boggled the logical mind. And experiments proved that the smoke could be imbued with Armament Haki. Logia truly were nigh invincible. It was little wonder all three Admirals had partaken of that class of Devil Fruit.

Luffy maintained that rubber was still the best, especially with all his cool Gears. Still, he allowed for Goo to make the upgrade of adding Smoker's power. In an emergency, it would allow Luffy to escape any injury.

Tashigi made the observation that 20,000 Embraced with the power of multiple Devil Fruits and Haki might be enough to conquer the planet alone. Goo agreed it might be possible, but argued that there was nothing wrong with stacking those odds even more obscenely in their favor. Besides, the best-case scenario involved no conflict at all, all major powers that could mount a resistance Embraced before they were even aware of the threat. And the whole point of the Embrace was to bring happiness to all sentient life. As Goo so often reminded them, ' _We Are Here To Help.'_

The Red-Hair Pirates set out from the island they'd used as their base. They would do a tour of all the islands Shanks had declared his territory, Embracing the population of each island. Once that was done, Shanks had a rather ambitious plan to spread the Embrace to another Emperor's crew. Mihawk, meanwhile, would set off for islands under the rule of Kaido and Embrace them, until such time as he was summoned by the World Government. Then he just might have a chance to Embrace the top brass of the Navy or perhaps even the royal city of Mary Geoise.

The next day dawned bright and clear, and all those in the Embrace stopped to enjoy the sunrise before returning to their tasks. Dawn Island was more biomass than anything by this point, being practically a living thing. The Embraced that hadn't set out on voyages to spread the Embrace to other islands lounged around, engaging in communal orgies or debates or brawls, depending on one's preference. Goo had false bodies being produced by the swarm, getting into more and more esoteric experiments as the slime drew closer and closer to an essential breakthrough in psionics. It had already grasped the absolute ceiling of physical biology, at least until a new species was added to the Embrace to provide options for further experimentation.

The East Blue was about halfway converted, with the rest set to fall within two to three months, depending on whether the exponential growth remained steady. The other three Blues were already underway. The News Coos had infected one or two in each ocean, and the growth from there was only a matter of time and biomass. Laboon would go for the two Calm Belts bordering Paradise before going on to the South Blue to speed things up in that ocean.

Speaking of the Island Whale, he had a very interesting presence. His mind was almost as large as Shanks', but much simpler. His whole being was defined by the pain of losing his nakama, the joy he remembered having with them, and a general love of music. Those three things summed up his entire character. He had already had all his scars healed by Goo, leaving him as a prime example of a half-century-old male of his species. All the various extra organs and other upgrades that came with the Embrace would happen once he gained biomass. With a farewell to Crocus that was felt with both mind and body, the Island Whale dived at the Twin Capes and began to swim for the nearest Sea King nest. He had to swim quite far, for the Going Merry had emptied out all within 10 miles.

Luffy commanded Merry to raise the anchor and turned to the two guests on his ship. "So? Liking your new bodies?"

Once Merry and the five pirates who sailed her had reached capacity for biomass, the excess had gone to the emergency Bio-Bomb and to upgrading Vivi and Babe to their desired specifications. Vivi, oddly enough, wanted to stay the exact same size, making her the shortest person on the living ship. Her frame filled out with muscle and her skin all but glowed beneath her bodysuit, but otherwise she looked no different. Ruth, on the other hand, had ballooned up to a height of 9'6, making him roughly the same size as Luffy's Gramps. The man who wore a crown for fashion, surprise surprise, had a bit of an inferiority complex. He'd immediately asked to be as large as possible, so he could look down on people. He had to walk on his knees in the galley, but he didn't seem to mind.

"These new senses are amazing! It's like I've never truly seen or heard the world before!" the Alabastan princess gushed.

"I. Am. A. Living. God!" Babe roared, posing in his orange bodysuit that was just a shade off from Nami's.

The navigator rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Time to get to Whiskey Peak. If we make good time through the climate vortex, we should be there by this afternoon. Be prepared for anything."

"Nami, Nami, we're all superhuman and our ship is ALIVE. How hard could some PMS'ing weather be?" Usopp asked.

He got his answer an hour later.

"I can't see a thing in this blizzard!" Luffy complained, narrowing his eyes behind the slits of his cowl.

"The ship got turned around by the currents! Brace to take the wind from starboard… I mean port!" Nami shouted, the wind doing an about-face halfway through her sentence.

"Iceberg, dead ahead!" Zoro warned, drawing Wado to send a flying blade attack to reduce the thing to ice cubes. He wasn't fast enough though, and some sizeable chunks impacted the Merry. If the ship were made of mere wood instead of biomass, it would have led to a leak.

"It's so HOT! Anyone got some ice?" Babe paused in his running about, fanning his face as the temperature soared over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Nami-swan! There's a tornado catching up to us!" Sanji reported from the aft.

Usopp huddled in the crow's nest, hiding from a furious Nami. "I jinxed it. I am _so_ dead."

' _We won't allow any murder among those in our Embrace.'_ There was a beat. ' _But we might allow some minor physical discipline,'_ Goo tacked on. It felt the same discomfort that its hosts felt, after all.

' _Boy, you guys are getting it rough. I remember our first voyage, it wasn't nearly as crazy,'_ Lucky Roo commented, keeping track of their journey so he could report to the Red-Hair Pirates interested in the antics of their favorite (former) Anchor.

' _!'_ Merry broadcasted, sensing something very large moving underneath her.

A pair of massive jaws appeared on either side of the Merry.

"HELL NO! I AM NOT GETTING SWALLOWED TWICE IN TWO DAYS!" Nami roared.

"I'm on it!" Luffy shouted. "Gear Third! Gum-Gum Elephant Gun!" the First shouted, swelling his fist to giant proportions before Hardening it with Armament. He punched down into the sea right next to the Going Merry, knocking the Sea King that had tried to gobble them up back down into the depths. It was much larger than the ones they'd consumed last night. Must be a stray from the Calm Belt.

Luffy landed back on the ship, only for the deck to go nearly vertical beneath his feet as the Merry sailed up the face of a massive wave.

"Shishishi! This is fun!" he declared.

"Goo, you can grow back any parts I rip off of him, right?" Nami asked, far too sweetly.

' _Okay, that is taking it too far,'_ Goo reflected, sending a surge of sedative through Nami's system.

The crew struggled through the vortex, dealing with one weather phenomenon after another. Until, at last, the seas finally calmed down as they entered the climate zone of Cactus Island. As one, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"How do normal people get through that?" Sanji asked, chewing on his toothpick.

"They don't call it the Pirate's Graveyard for nothing, it seems," Zoro mused, checking Wado Ichimonji over for any damage.

"Try going back and forth through it in a two-person raft," Babe complained, stretching his long legs. "Miss Wednesday - sorry, Vivi and I almost died every time we got the Laboon assignment."

"How the hell were you planning on bringing Laboon back with you if you had managed to kill him?" Nami questioned the other female.

Vivi blinked and shared an awkward glance with Babe before rubbing the back of her head. "Didn't think of that. Whoopsy-daisy."

"Yosh! We're close, right? To Bourbon Mountain?" Luffy demanded.

Nami sighed. "Whiskey Peak. And yes. We should be in sight of it soon."

"It's amazing that you can sense magnetic fields so accurately. You're like a walking Log Pose," Vivi gushed to the older girl.

"Thank Goo. I just had the idea, he/she/it/they're the one that made it happen."

"He/she/it _/_ they?"

' _My preferred pronoun. It acknowledges the fact that I am male and female at the same time due to having both men and women in our Embrace, while also recognizing that we are an asexually reproducing culture of single-celled organisms that is both singular and plural'_ Goo explained to the royal.

"Okay," Vivi agreed, while inwardly thinking it was a little complicated.

' _Indeed it is. Hence why I settled on the simple name of Goo. Easier to refer to me directly.'_ Goo communicated with her privately. Vivi jumped, still not used to having no privacy even in her thoughts, but she settled down as Goo increased her endorphins as an apology for startling her.

Usopp picked himself up from where Nami had bashed his head into the deck of the Merry, nursing a goose egg. He'd taken his punishment like a champ, at least. "So, a town full of bounty hunters is waiting for us. Though from Vivi's and Babe's memories, it seems like even pre-Embrace Luffy or Zoro could take them all on and win."

"We're Frontier Agents and Millions. We're the cannon fodder of the organization," Babe defended. "Besides, we usually get them drunk first and capture them while they're passed out. Little to no fighting required. Plus, most pirates coming in are exhausted from the vortex and not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"You realize it's pure luck that you haven't tried to take on a crew stronger than you until now, right?" Nami questioned.

"Sure, _now_ we do, with one of the Four Emperors and a Warlord to give us perspective. Up until yesterday, I thought we were a fairly strong team," Vivi said defensively.

Luffy laughed. "Shishishi. It's no matter. Once you guys are all Embraced and nakama, you'll be able to take on any crew that comes your way!"

"I'm not staying. I'm coming with you all to Alabasta," Vivi stated decisively.

"Sure, sure. I meant for the guys who stay to keep up the trap."

"Constance and I can stay in charge. We always thought about settling down here anyway," Babe said with a light blush.

"Can't believe you're in love with a woman with more muscle than you," Zoro said rudely.

"Oi! Mosshead! Every lady is unique and beautiful in her own way!" Sanji shouted.

"You just don't understand the power of love. Not like I, the great Captain Usopp," the sniper said pityingly. He sent the private thought to Kaya that he was glad she was so womanly, though. She smiled and sent him a wave of love and affection in response.

Luffy picked his nose. "I'm in love. I love all you guys."

"Not the same, Luffy," Nami said in the wake of the awkward silence that followed that comment. ' _Goo, is he asexual?'_ she wondered silently.

' _He just naturally has a very low sex drive, on top of being completely ignorant. He thinks sex is a special kind of wrestling. He knows he likes girls, he just has little to no inclination to do anything with them. The most beautiful girl in the world could be topless in front of him and he'd just wonder why she wasn't wearing a shirt.'_

The mysteries of her captain's sexuality explained to her by the one entity that knew him better than he knew himself, Nami returned to reality. "All right! Now, here's how it's going to go! Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji will take on the bounty hunters. Vivi, Babe, and I will gather all the supplies in town and convert them to biomass. Usopp, stay on the lookout for the Mr. 13 pair. We can't chance Crocodile learning about our identities or the Embrace before we get to Alabasta. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Babe said, snapping a salute.

"Can I Embrace Carue myself? He's my beloved friend and protector, it would feel wrong if someone else did it." Vivi fiddled with her fingers, wondering if it was okay to challenge Nami's authority.

"Sure, sure."

' _What a nice Captain,'_ they both thought.

Luffy perked up, indignant. "Hey, _I'm_ the Captain!"

"Sure you are," everyone said, fully aware of where the real power lied.

Luffy pulled down on his straw hat. "Jerks," he muttered.

* * *

The Going Merry reached Cactus Island. The view of the massive spherical hills became much more morbid when you realized the 'needles' were grave markers. The ship sailed up the river that all but split the island in two. Nami paused to 'lock' the magnetic field of the island in her mind so she could find it forever, and then started focusing on the other fields further to the southeast, forward into Paradise. They would never have to worry about Log times, not with Nami on the crew.

When they reached the dock, the town seemed deserted. Observation revealed that everyone was hiding in doorways or in alleys.

' _So it's a sneak attack this time,'_ Vivi and Babe both thought.

Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji hopped into the main plaza. They had on 'fake' clothes, in case the dumb otter and vulture were watching. Biomass was to stay under the surface until the presence of potential spies was eliminated. Luffy, always one to be dramatic, couldn't resist. "Everyone! I just want to say one thing before the fun starts!"

The Millions tensed.

Luffy grinned wide. "We Are Here To Help."

"Bet I can get more than you," Sanji told Zoro.

"You're on."

With that, the three vanished in a blur of Shave. Nami strolled nonchalantly down the gangplank, perfectly assured that she wouldn't get hurt. "Come on. Those idiots should be done by the time we reach the first house."

"Damn, those guys are fast," Babe muttered. He winced as Constance, his love, was punched in the face by an overly enthusiastic Luffy.

Vivi blew a whistle through her teeth, summoning CArue from her personal shack on the island where he'd been staying. Vivi smiled and gave him a hug, even as he dithered because she smelled different. Then he was out like a light, Goo beginning to replicate inside him until he reached the critical mass necessary for the Embrace.

The Monster Trio went about dragging all the unconscious bodies of their future nakama into the plaza, which took more time than knocking them all out had. Sanji and Zoro ended up with a tie, which bothered them so much they felt the need to start sparring in order to get a real winner. Luffy, always happy to fight, joined in to make it a three-way brawl. Nami ordered them not to damage any of the buildings, which if anything just gave them a handicap.

By the time the sun set, all of Whiskey Peak had entered the Embrace. Babe had taken great pleasure in picking up Constance and giving her a big kiss to share some biomass with her (normally, she would be picking him up!). Nami oversaw rationing of the biomass they'd made out of the meager supplies on the island to the other Millions. The former Baroque Works workers would have to do a lot of fishing in order to get the biomass for each of them to be fully Embraced.

Usopp, despite constant use of Observation and his own eagle eyes, saw no trace of the Unluckies. Still, he couldn't let up his vigil. The whole Embrace depended on him to keep the secret!

Igaram and Carue hardly let Vivi out of their sight. Now that they were intimately aware of just how many of the Millions found her desirable, their protective streaks had shot through the roof. She tolerated their antics, enjoying the brotherly and paternal care from her pet and bodyguard.

Usopp noticed something at the edge of his Observation. "Oi, guys! I don't see the Unluckies, but a boat with two people on it just docked on the far side of the island!"

"Who could it be?" Nami wondered.

"They feel decently strong. Might be other Agents," Zoro offered.

Vivi and Igaram shared a glance. ' _That woman,'_ they both thought.

Luffy frowned as he followed that train of thought. "Well, let's just Embrace them already. No big deal why they're here."

"Still, best to keep them off guard. Everyone, please, get in the center. Usopp, hide in the crow's nest!" Vivi commanded with all the authority of her royal station.

The four Straw Hats sat down, biomass oozing from their pores to form the fake appearances of ropes binding them. The Millions began to lounge and congratulate each other on a job well done while the Frontier Agents talked about nothing.

Finally, the two presences made it into town. They paused at a distance, and then one of them sent something almost too small to sense in their direction.

There was an explosion right where Igaram, Vivi, Carue, Babe, and Constance were standing. They were sent away, subcutaneous biomass guarding them from any damage. They all got to their feet, singed but alright. "What was that? Who dares to attack us?" Igaram roared.

"Hmph, they're tougher than I thought," came a bored voice.

"Kyahaha! That just means we get to do this the fun way!" said the mystery man's companion.

Vivi locked eyes on the pair walking casually down the street towards them. "Mr. 5! Miss Valentine! What is the meaning of this?"

The Monster Trio wanted to attack right then, Sanji especially at seeing two ladies get hurt, but Nami held them back. She sensed that Vivi wanted to handle this herself. Her whole life, she'd felt weak, always the protected, never the protector. She wanted, deep down, to prove she was more than a china doll.

Mr. 5 sighed. "The Boss had charged us with a task. 'Someone knows my secret', he said. What that secret is, of course, we have no idea."

"So we investigated. And lo and behold, we found out that members of a certain kingdom had infiltrated Baroque Works," Miss Valentine continued.

Mr. 5 pulled out two photographs. "Captain of the Alabasta Royal Guard, Igaram, and Princess of Alabasta Kingdom, Nefertari Vivi."

Vivi narrowed her eyes and pulled out her Peacock Slashers, both coated with an invisible layer of biomass. "Well, to that, there's only one thing to say," the princess said, beginning to spin her weapons."

"Hmm? What's that?" Mr. 5 asked, digging for gold in his nose.

"We Are Here To Help. Stealth Foot!" And with that, Vivi vanished.

Miss Valentine opened her umbrella and leapt into the air, floating as if she weighed no more than a feather. "Kyahahahaha! She actually plans on fighting us! How adorable!"

Mr. 5 opened his mouth to answer, but got cut as Vivi appeared in his blind spot and went for his cheek.

"Damn you… little… traitor…" Mr. 5 began to shout, only to pass out as the sedative nature in the biomass took effect.

Miss Valentine's eyes widened at seeing her partner go down so easily, but she regained her confidence. "Poisoning your weapon? I didn't expect that from a prim little princess. But take this! 10,000 Kilo Press!" With that, Miss Valentine shot down like a meteor headed right for Vivi. But when she crashed into the ground, leaving an imprint, Vivi was nowhere to be found.

"Come out and face me, you coward!" the lemon-themed woman shouted, getting ready to jump back into the air where she was safe.

A nick to her ankle was her response, followed by a sleeper hold. "Devil Fruit users who get complacent don't last long on the Grand Line," Vivi whispered into Miss Valentine's ear as she passed out.

In an instant, Carue and Igaram were at her side. "Princess! Why did you do that? It's our job to protect you!"

"I wanted to fight! To prove that I'm not useless!"

Luffy laughed, the 'ropes' vanishing. "I like her. She's spunky."

"Sure-Kill: Embrace Star!" Usopp called form the crow's nest, shooting twin pellets at the vulture and otter that had just perched on a nearby cactus hill. Both collapsed, luckily not sliding off to the ground. Can't Embrace them if they're dead. "Well, that's that taken care of! Oi, everyone, I think we're all done here!"

As if to counteract his claim, Merry detected an unknown presence on the ship. She immediately surrounded the person in a biomass cocoon, trapping them and Embracing them in one fell move.

Usopp jumped. "What? But my Observation didn't detect anything!"

' _It is possible, based on our preliminary findings, to minimize or even silence one's presence to those with Observation Haki. Clearly this is a person well-trained in stealth. Do not beat yourself up, Usopp,'_ Goo comforted.

The Straw Hats reboarded the Going Merry, Luffy stopping to poke the cocoon. They also noticed a large tortoise beside the ship, which they Embraced quickly. Vivi, Igaram, and Carue made themselves comfortable as guests, watching as the crew readied to ship out.

"Miss Navigator, will you be needing the Eternal Pose to Alabasta?" Igaram called out.

"No, we're good. Luffy wants to hit the islands along the way, so we'll take the indirect route. Besides, Crocodile might be watching the direct route."

"Ah, yes," the man with curly hair acknowledged.

As the Straw Hats sailed away, they became aware of Ted and Godiva joining the Embrace. It was fascination how a boy who wanted to be a fireman and a girl that wanted to be a chocolatier ended up as assassins in a crime syndicate. They also provided various classified intel on Baroque Works' inner workings. And Goo got the chance to experiment with their Devil Fruits, adding them to the ever increasing arsenal of the Embrace.

Little did they know, they were about to get an even more potent tool.

As the Going Merry cleared the river mouth, Nico Robin awoke in the Embrace.

The Buster Call, Vice-Admiral Kuzan, the sacrifice of Jaguar D. Saul. Followed by twenty years of hiding and running and backstabbing, doing whatever it took to survive. All for the crime of knowing something the World Government wanted kept secret. Finally landing with Crocodile, doing terrible things in order to get the chance, just the chance to see what might be the Rio Poneglyph.

Not to mention the Flower-Flower Fruit, which had so many applications that Goo could scarcely process them all.

Luffy decided that he liked her. So, as the cocoon opened and sunk back into the Merry, Luffy held out his hand. "Join my crew, Nico Robin."

The tired, jaded, hopeless archaeologist felt his genuine warmth and desire and decided to try one last time. "Very well, Monkey D. Luffy."


	8. Chapter 8

**And with this, we cross the line into 40k words or more. This just might start to get some more attention. Time will tell.**

* * *

It was a couple weeks at least to get from Whiskey Peak to Little Garden. In that time, a lot of interesting things happened.

The most shocking thing to happen was when the ship from Marine HQ came to pick up Captain Morgan for his crimes. Koby had almost lost his shit when he realized that Garp the Fist had come himself to the East Blue for this one criminal. Formulating a plan quickly, Koby had Morgan 'attack' Garp during an attempted jailbreak. Then the Embraced Marines teamed up with Garp's crew in order to 'subdue' the rampaging criminal, subtly touching their fellows who then fell to 'attacks' from the crazed man with an ax for a hand. Boggart, Garp's second-in-command, wound up being the one to deal the final blow, inflicting a great but non-lethal slash to the corrupt Captain's back. Koby and Helmeppo had glomped the man in 'thanks', Embracing him before he could notice anything amiss.

When Monkey D. Garp woke up, the Embrace had a new model of the strongest human alive. Shanks was a titanic user of Haki and swordsmanship, but Garp was something astronomical. He'd been growing his reserves of 'Stored Will' for longer than most of the Embrace had been alive. He couldn't take out an island with a single punch like Whitebeard was rumored to be able to, but give him three or four and he'd get the job done.

And the first thing he did when waking up in the Embrace was to scream " _Damn it, Luffy, I told you to be a Marine! Not a Pirate!_ "

Even from an ocean away, Luffy huddled into the fetal position in fear. "Beware the Fist of Love. Beware!" he began to blubber to the concern of his crew.

Once all the threats were out of his system, Monkey D. Garp could only laugh. "Bwahaha! World peace through mind control! It's so ridiculous, it just might work!"

Goo protested. ' _Not mind control, per se. Merely… coordination. Each member of the Embrace maintains a degree of autonomy. We merely step in when one moves towards violent, unproductive ends. It is more akin to having an all-powerful nanny than true loss of freedom.'_

"Sounds like mind control to me," Garp said neutrally, a finger knuckle-deep up his nose.

' _You are as bad as Luffy.'_

"Where do you think he gets it from? If only Dragon had taken after me instead of his mother."

The knowledge that Luffy was related to the Most Wanted Man in the World only increased his fame in the eyes of his fans. One of them, a Bartolomeo from Loguetown, was so taken with Luffy and his crew that he prayed to posters he'd painted of them for hours each day. Luffy laughed when he learned of this and encouraged 'Barto' that if he really wanted to be like Luffy, he should sail the Grand Line. Within the hour, all the Straw Hat fanboys and fangirls in the East Blue were making plans to meet up and sail Paradise just like their heroes.

Not even Goo could make sense of the brains of some of those fans. It truly escaped logical reasoning.

Anyway, Garp promptly decided to 'adopt' Koby and Helmeppo, deeming them to have to most potential out of all the current Embraced Marines. Then he set out on the voyage back to Marineford, with a brief stop at Enies Lobby in order to have Morgan processed before being sent to Impel Down, his 'crimes' having been increased with his violent escape attempt. With the speed of the Tarai Current as well as shortcutting through the Calm Belt, they would arrive back at Marine HQ shortly before the Going Merry arrived at Little Garden.

The three Pillars of Justice would each be touched by the Embrace. It would grow slowly, carefully, only when able to be ignored by the watching eyes of those in power. But given enough time, it would spread like a virus, until all were within the grasp of Goo's loving arms. Garp figured he could just bash his way into Sengoku's office as usual and give him a simple slap on the back. From there, the two of them would work from the top down, while Koby and Helmeppo worked on the new recruits and other underlings of the island. Morgan would attempt another 'jailbreak' on Enies Lobby and slash a few Marines and Government Agents, his axe coated with biomass invisible to the naked eye. Then, once in Impel Down, he would find his way out of his cell and into the rest of the prison at large.

Goo was incredibly excited. If the Embrace would spread to the Marine brass quietly, than it would effectively cut off the head of the World Government's military in the event of a defense against the 'invasion'. The only other significant armies that could pose a threat were the Revolutionary Army (which they'd yet to get a foothold in) and the Four Emperors. But each of the Blues had Embraced on them and were spreading exponentially, particularly in the East Blue. The Revolutionary Army would be found and eventually infiltrated; it was only a matter of time. And with the Red-Hair Pirates embraced there was one Emperor down, and Goo agreed with the former amputee's plans to Embrace another of the Emperors.

It was really looking up for the Embrace.

* * *

Robin had slipped into life on the Merry like a piece to the growing puzzle. Her wit and intelligence, along with her rather morbid sense of humor, provided a nice contrast to Luffy's sunniness and idiocy. Sanji loved her for the simple fact she was a beautiful woman. Zoro, while recognizing she wasn't a direct combatant, respected her abilities as a fighter and the power of her Devil Fruit. Nami delighted in having another 'sane' member of the crew, as well as an older sister figure in the 28-year-old. Usopp was a little freaked out at her body count, but welcomed her as family nevertheless.

Tensions were a little high at first between Robin and Vivi. The latter, even knowing and understanding the reasons behind it, could barely bring herself to forgive the older woman for her role in overturning her country. Robin, looking drop-dead gorgeous in a violet bodysuit, had offered Vivi the chance to deal with her frustrations physically the way Zoro and Sanji so often did. Not eager to be choked by disembodied hands, Vivi had sighed and agreed to disagree with Robin when it came to the justification of her past actions. Otherwise, she attempted to be civil with her as she would be with any member of the crew.

Robin's Devil Fruit had proved quite fascinating for Goo and others in the Embrace. Sadly, generated limbs did not contain biomass, so it wasn't an instant kill switch for the Embrace. Still, it revolutionized the workforce on converted islands, letting them move materials ten times faster than before by generating extra arms or legs to carry supplies. Experiments on Dawn Island revealed that the Flower-Flower Fruit also allowed for the creation of giant limbs made up of an aggregate number of generated body parts. It was also possible to create a full-body clone with enough Psi power, which Robin suddenly had in excess with the upgrades that came with the Embrace. Goo posited that by combining the two, Robin could one day create a giant copy of herself to wreak destruction on all in her path.

Those that engaged in more carnal activities with their free time in the Embrace were also pleased to learn that they could replicate 'other' body parts. As Nami had observed back at Orange Town, the sex lives of the Embraced were weird.

Robin was stunned when she came into mental contact with Buggy, Shanks, and Crocus and learned that the Roger Pirates had discovered the True History. Roger's power to read the Poneglyphs came not from a knowledge and study of the ancient language, as Robin's did, but from the ability to hear the Voice of All Things. Goo was still trying to puzzle out exactly what that was. Robin cried bittersweet tears as the knowledge flooded indelibly into her brain. The secret Dr. Clover, her mother, all the archaeologists of Ohara had died for. To finally know it, to have an answer why, it filled her with as much sadness as joy. So _this_ was what the Government was willing to murder to hide. It seemed so… petty. But what more could she expect of the World Nobles?

Moving past the emotional breakdown with the love of her nakama and the help of Goo, Robin resolved to do her best to fill in what gaps were left. She would read every Poneglyph in the world, find out every last bit of history there was of the Void Century. Those she didn't see herself, her fellow Embraced would read. By attempting to sneak on the Merry, Robin had unintentionally gifted the entire Embrace with her forbidden knowledge. Everyone with Goo whispering in their ear could now read the timeless stones.

She'd start with the Poneglyph in Alabasta. Crocodile was convinced it contained the location of the Ancient Weapon, Pluton. Even if that proved true, it would still be useful to the Embrace. After all, such a powerful ship would only be stronger if replicated in biomass.

Ted and Godiva, aka Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, reported through the Unluckies that they were unsuccessful at taking out Vivi and Igaram. There were two intentions behind the message. First, hopefully the Unluckies would have a chance to Embrace Crocodile when delivering the message. Barring that, it would prompt Crocodile to send another Agent out to assassinate Vivi, which would let the Embrace get their hands on another member of Crocodile's inner circle.

They received the report that the Mr. 3 pair would be sent to Little Garden and that Ted and Godiva were to aid them. The two Officer Agents hopped in their boat, which was modified to make use of the Bomb-Bomb Fruit for extra propulsion, and made to catch up with the Going Merry.

Goo had a breakthrough. It came from a combination of Shanks' and Garp's knowledge, research into uses of the Embrace's Devil Fruits, and general research on psionics. Turns out there was a second, deeper level to the psionic component of each Fruit, which could be unlocked with the right combination of stress and Psi energy, like a key into a lock. The result was Awakening, unlocking the full extent of that Fruit's power and even expanding on them.

The first to be Awakened was, of course, the Gum-Gum Fruit, since it was the one Goo was most familiar with. Luffy had a great deal of fun bouncing on the deck of the Merry, which he'd transformed through the power of his mind into a bouncy castle. The power to turn his environment into rubber, not just his body, was no more than a passing curiosity to Luffy. To others in the Embrace, those fighting on the front lines to spread Goo to other islands, it provided a great many battle applications.

Goo immediately worked to find the 'combination' for each Fruit. In the case of Godiva, it would allow her and all others gifted with the Kilo-Kilo Fruit to alter the weight of other objects. That alone could have game-changing ramifications for both civilian and military life among the Embrace. It was the psycho-biological equivalent of lockpicking, but Goo persisted. It would Awaken each Fruit and provide its power to the Embrace. We Are Here To Help, after all.

On a more minor note, Goo had managed to convert and upgrade enough Transponder Snails to wiretap the planet. Every conversation that wasn't cloaked by a White Transponder Snail was wide open for the listening. Of course, nothing truly important would pop up, but you never knew when something might slip through.

The amount of phone sex that Goo had to sift through was enough to make even a pervert like Sanji blush scarlet.

Eventually, though, the day came when the climate around the Going Merry stabilized, and they saw a tropical island on the horizon. At last, they had arrived, at the greatest misnomer in Paradise: Little Garden.

* * *

The Going Merry sailed up the river into the island, the foliage on either side reaching up to dizzying heights.

"Who had the bright idea to name this place 'Little Garden'? There's nothing little about it," Nami asked, bodysuit on up to her neck. She didn't want to get bit to death by bugs. Goo would probably cure her even if she got some deadly disease, but why take chances?

"The name was meant to be a pun, given the two Giants whom call this island home," Robin spoke up pleasantly.

Sanji, clad in navy blue biomass, reached out with his Observation. "These dinosaurs aren't half bad for sparring practice. And those two Giants could give even Luffy a hard time."

This was truly saying something. As Goo had promised, the Embraced had begun to build up Stored Will the same way Mihawk, Shanks, and Garp had, only phenomenally faster. In the course of two weeks, the Monster Trio had gained the equivalent of a couple years in raw Psi energy, which had saturated their bodies and begun to produce the multiplier Goo had observed. On top of their Embraced physiques and muscle systems, the three heavy hitters were about level with your average Vice-Admiral at the moment.

Luffy grinned. "Finally. A decent fight! Yo, who wants to come with me to watch me kick a Giant's ass?"

Vivi raised her hand, to Igaram and Carue's shock. "I'd like to watch, please. It will take my mind off of what's going on in Alabasta." There had been no hiding the knowledge of the newspaper article from her. 300,000 members of the Royal Army had defected to the rebels. The situation in her country was only getting worse. Still, they had no choice but to Embrace these islands. The Embrace came before her own needs, she recognized that.

"Princess Vivi, I really must protest!" Igaram said, waving his arms around like he didn't know what to do with them. "What if you get hurt?"

"With my bodysuit, I'll be fine. Besides, I'll have you and Carue to protect me," Vivi said, smiling sweetly.

"Quack?!" Carue exclaimed, looking at Vivi with bulging eyes. His canary-yellow bodysuit mimicked the texture of his feathers underneath them, making him look almost identical whether it was on or off.

"Yosh! I'll take the Giant on that side of the island!" Luffy said, pointing. "Who gets the other one?"

"I'll do it," Zoro stepped forward.

"If we leave it to the shitty moss, it's sure to get messed up. Fine, I'll do it," Sanji said, kicking his leg out.

"What was that, you crap cook?"

"You say something, you national treasure?"

"Fufufu! Seis Fleur!" Three arms grew out of each man's chest, pushing them apart as Robin stepped into the gap. "If neither of you mind, I would like to test my new powers on this Giant. I was never one for direct combat, and yet now I have the body of a warrior. I would like to try out the combination on Dorry or Brogy."

"Of course, Robin-chwan!" Sanji noodle-danced.

Zoro grunted. "Fine. I'll just go hunt some dinosaurs for biomass."

"I bet I can get more biomass than you, dumb swordsman!" Sanji called out.

And just like that, they were at each other's throats again.

"That leaves Usopp and me to protect the Merry from predators," Nami stated, calculating everyone's schedule.

"Let's do it! Adventure!" Luffy said, leaping off the deck. Vivi astride Carue followed after him, with Igaram in a bodysuit the same grey-green as his hair to scurry after. Robin hopped off, looking graceful as a figure skater, and walked off in the direction her Observation informed her there was a Giant.

Nami turned her attention to the third sentient presence she'd detected with her Observation. ' _Ted, Godiva, are you close to getting Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek?'_

' _We just arrived. Give us an hour, and both will be Embraced,'_ Ted replied, punching an uppity tiger in the head with his brown bodysuit-covered fist.

' _Kyahaha! We have the easy part. We just need to ambush the guy. It's you guys that have to deal with the Giants!'_ Godiva chuckled, twirling her biomass umbrella around her lemon-yellow form.

Nami nodded. She then focused on 'locking' the magnetic field of Little Garden. "This one's difficult. No wonder it takes a year for a Log Pose to memorize it."

' _We have every faith in you, Nami.'_ Goo assured.

"And… done. Once Luffy and Robin finish with the Giants and those bickering idiots finish their little contest, we can leave."

Usopp noted a diving pterodactyl and aimed for its eye. "Embrace Star! Good, now we just have to protect the Merry."

Robin spoke up telepathically. ' _Nami-san, Usopp-san, I'm afraid I've had to reverse direction. You know what that means, I presume?'_

The cowardly duo felt their blood drain from their faces as they detected a literally gigantic presence coming towards them.

"Well, think of this positively. We might get to take him down without a fight," Usopp claimed cheerily.

"Robin is as bloodthirsty as Luffy, in her own way. She'll want the chance to stretch her new muscles," Nami counterred.

A shadow blocked the sun. They both turned.

"HELLO, LITTLE ONES! DO YOU HAVE ANY ALCOHOL?" questioned a rather rotund warrior. He had an ax and a shield, and wore a horned helmet.

"Why, yes we do! Usopp, why don't you get it?" Nami said brightly, hiding the fact that both of her hearts were beating out of time.

Usopp ran into the galley, where he picked up the barrel that Merry had filled with biomass-laced water, and ran out again with it over his shoulder. "Here it is! Why don't you have it right now? You look thirsty!" Usopp said, panicking just like Nami. They were both hoping the Giant would drink the water before Robin could get back and start a fight.

The Giant made a strange face and grunted. He turned to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex chomping on his behind. With one swing of his mighty ax, the Giant decapitated the king of the jungle. "I AM ELBAF'S MIGHTIEST WARRIOR, BROGY! GABABABABA!"

The giant turned back to the two pirates. "WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THAT ALCOHOL OVER SOME MEAT? DINOSAUR MEAT IS THE TASTIEST!"

Before either of them could respond, a feminine form jumped up and over Broggy using Moonwalk. She then flipped forwards, her legs locked straight out. "Mil Fleur! Gigantesco Mano! Kick!" A thousand legs sprouted and grew out of Robin's own, creating two bare legs on the scale of Broggy. The heels of both came down right in his face, sending him flying back.

"ROBIN, YOU BITCH!" Usopp and Nami both roared, eyes bulging out past their faces.

"Fufufu! That was exhilarating!" the archaeologist stated as she landed gently on the ground. She then turned to the sprawled form of Broggy, who seemed utterly gobsmacked by recent events. Running forward, Robin began to Moonwalk over and above the Giant laid on his back. "Mil Fleur! Gigantesco Mano! Grab!" Two giant arms appeared out of the ground and grabbed Broggy by his wrists, restraining him.

Landing on his bloodied nose, Robin reared back her arms… and began to slap Broggy's face from side to side with monstrous strength that belied her true size. Each touch of her palm to her skin delivered a few units of biomass, which burrowed under his skin on their way to his brain.

Unfortunately, Broggy wasn't one to go down without a fight. He flexed and broke free of the two hands, standing up and dislodging Robin. She Moonwalked back to the ground, turning to face Broggy just in time for him to try and stomp her. "HOW DARE YOU ATTACK FROM BEHIND?!" he roared, in a rage at the breach of honor.

Robin used Shave to escape the vicinity of his foot. "Honor, speed, strength, these mean nothing to me! Mil Fleur! Gigantesco Mano!" she called, materializing two hands from the inside of Brogy's thighs.

Usopp's eyes widened in horror. "She wouldn't…"

"Grab!"

"She would," Nami weeped.

"YEOW!" Broggy screeched as his… assets were grabbed.

* * *

Luffy winced as he made his way through the foliage. "Man, Robin! I still want him to be a man when he becomes our nakama!"

"I knew that woman was a devil," Igaram shuddered, clutching his crotch in sympathetic pain.

Vivi was blushing up a storm. "Can't she _feel_ everything she touches with her extra limbs?"

"Quack!" was Carue's well-thought response.

Luffy paused in his trek as he felt a shift in his Observation. "The Giant's moving towards us."

"Perhaps he's hunting that herd of brachiosaurs," Vivi pointed through a clearing in the trees.

"The what?"

"The long-necked ones," Igaram explained patiently. Practice for when he and Terracotta had a kid, hopefully one brighter than Luffy.

"Oh, okay! You know, I'm feeling a bit hungry. Meat before a fight is always best!" With that, Luffy Moonwalked up and over to the nearest dinosaur. Opening his mouth extremely wide with the power of his Devil Fruit, Luffy chomped down on one of the dinosaurs' head. With big chomping motions, Luffy made his way down the long neck to the body of the dinosaur, biomass inside his mouth and throat working double-time to consume the organic matter and convert it to biomass. By the time Luffy touched back down on the ground, he had ballooned out and the dinosaur had vanished except for a bit of tail that Luffy slurped up with relish. "Yummy!"

"That did _not_ just happen," Alabasta's princess denied.

"That, right there? That was messed up," Igaram stated with wide eyes.

"Qua-ack," Carue said solemnly, nodding.

"THAT WAS MOST IMPRESSIVE! DID YOU PERHAPS EAT SOME KIND OF DEVIL FRUIT?"

The four of them turned to see a Giant with a very long beard and a sword walking towards them. One of the brachiosaurus tried to nibble on his beard and got decapitated as a result. "I AM ELBAF'S MIGHTIEST WARRIOR, DORRY! GEGYAGYAGYAGYA!"

Luffy perked up. "Oh! Giant guy! I've been looking for you!"

"YOU HAVE? WHY IS THAT?" Dorry asked, leaning down.

Luffy grinned. "We Are Here To Help."

Then Luffy Moonwalked right into Dorry's eye and vomited up all his spare biomass. This had the twofold effect of making him his normal size again and blinding Dorry.

"AH! A DIRTY TRICK! YOU ARE NO WARRIOR OF ELBAF!"

"No, I'm a pirate! Gear Second! Armament: Hardening!" Luffy said, pounding his feet in order to get his blood pumping, and coating his hands with a tangible layer of Armament Haki. The combination of his skyrocketing body temperature and the psionic substance led to his hands catching on fire, an effect that Luffy never ceased to think was cool. "Jet Red Hawk Gatling!" Luffy roared, launching a barrage of punches, each one impacting Dorry with the force of a small missile. After a solid minute of the assault, the effects of the sedative in the biomass combined with the physical trauma to send Dorry toppling over.

Luffy had Goo calm his heart rate back to normal levels and released his Haki. "Shishishi! I took down a Giant! That's one thing I can hold over Ace's head!"

' _You realize that Portgas D. Ace is Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, with a bounty of 550 million Belly? He's likely to have done many notorious acts in order to gain that kind of power and reputation, fighting a Giant being one of the least of them.'_

Luffy pouted. "Dang it, he's still stronger." Luffy perked right back up again. "That's okay! I just got to train super hard like Koby or Zoro and I'll catch right up!"

' _... We admire your optimism.'_ Goo settled on.

"Wonder when I'll see him again? I really hope I get to be the one to Embrace him." Luffy mused.

Little did he know that his brother was a mere two islands away.

They gathered back at the Going Merry. Zoro and Sanji had each bagged a number of dinosaurs, and were eagerly waiting for Goo to tally up the total amount of biomass earned from each kill. To their unspeakable dismay, they were dead even once again. Usopp was curled in the fetal position after seeing Robin's attack up close and personal, with Nami resolved to never touch Robin's hands ever again, at least until they'd been washed a few hundred times.

Ted and Godiva reported success with Embracing Galdino and Leona. Now the Embrace had access to the Candle-Candle Fruit, which when combined with biomass should be able to create living structures and weapons with ease. Awakening it would just increase the building potential, not to mention sinking a field of enemies in quicksand-like wax. Leona's Color Traps were interesting, especially when combined with Django's hypnotism. The Embrace was getting closer to a way to control their enemies to stop them from even fighting.

As the Going Merry sailed down the river, Dorry and Brogy appeared at the exit. Their experience and honor touched many in the Embrace, and their genomes and anatomies provided Goo with a wealth of material to examine and experiment with. Both had already forgiven the Straw Hats, recognizing they were following orders. They both would continue their honor duel, though they would make sure to Embrace any poor souls that found their way to Little Garden.

"There is one last obstacle you must face," Dorry intoned.

"The real reason why few ever survive leaving this island," Brogy growled.

"Whatever you do, keep sailing forward!" they both shouted.

Luffy nodded. "Okay! Everyone, keep going forward!"

So they kept going forward.

They went forward even as a goldfish the size of Laboon appeared out of the water.

They went forward even as they were swallowed whole by the Island Eater.

And they went forward as Dorry and Brogy sent a combined attack that blasted a hole the size of a building out of the monster's hide.

Usopp shed manly tears of admiration. "I want to be like them one day."

' _If you want to be a Giant, you will need a considerable amount of biomass.'_

"That's not what I meant!" Usopp snapped.


	9. Chapter 9

**No, I did not know about the Officer Agents names being confirmed by Oda. No, I am not going back and changing them. They're not that big a part of the story, so it shouldn't bother you that much. On with the show!**

* * *

Vivi only got more and more worried with each day that passed. Robin assured her that Operation Utopia was not set to happen for another week at least, but Vivi continued to overthink it. She pointed out that Robin's absence could have made Crocodile panic and speed up his plans. Robin had no response to that. Luffy just chuckled and assured Vivi that he'd kick Crocodile's ass and save her country. Besides, as Luffy pointed out, once they arrived in Alabasta they would start to spread the Embrace, which would end the war all on its own.

That made Vivi worry for different reasons. She trusted Goo, believed that he/she/it/they was truly benign. Still, could she allow such a creature dominion over her entire people?

' _Our goal is to enhance, not supplant,'_ Goo comforted her with an extra dose of feel-good chemicals. ' _You will still be princess, your father will still be king. You all will merely be within our Embrace and reap the benefits that follow. We Are Here To Help.'_

Still, Vivi's unease weighed on all of them. The crew and Merry endeavored to get the best speed possible as they sailed for the next island in the chain. Nami, having memorized which way the Alabasta Eternal Pose was pointing and having the benefit of being able to feel true North even in the Grand Line, reasoned that they were only one island away from the desert kingdom. They'd have one last stop to spread the Embrace and load up on biomass, and then they'd be off to save Vivi's country.

It was the third day after setting out from Little Garden, and everyone was dressed in their bodysuits. If they hadn't been, their Mucranoids would have been emitting a protective layer. The temperature had begun to stabilize at frigidly low levels, easily into the negative Celsius. Thankfully, with Goo's biomass to protect them, none of them even felt the cold.

"We must be near a Winter Island," Vivi said from the rail, looking out over the sea.

"Winter Island?" Usopp asked, curious.

"Yes. There are Autumn Islands, Winter Islands, Spring Islands, and Summer Islands on the Grand Line. Each Island then has its own four seasons unique to their climate. So when one sails on the Grand Line, they must be prepared to face sixteen different seasons, from the summer of a Summer Island to the winter of a Winter Island." Vivi rubbed her hands together out of nervous habit more than a need for warmth. "Of course, there may be islands out there that go against this trend, as well. You truly must expect anything when it comes to the Grand Line."

"Well, I like the snow!" Luffy cheered, making snow angels from what hadn't been melted or 'eaten' by Merry yet. There was life in every drop of water, after all. And where there was life, there was fuel for biomass.

"This water is so refreshing!" Zoro spoke up, from where he was swimming alongside the Merry. He was using the Kilo-Kilo Fruit to increase his weight and make staying above the surface a real challenge. Got to stretch those mutant muscles, after all.

"Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! Vivi-chwan! Your soup is ready!" Sanji stopped acting triple-jointed below the waist to chew on his toothpick. "Oi, bastards, your grub is waiting."

Vivi had a sweat-drop on the back of her head. "Anything at all," she muttered, marveling at the attitudes of the Monster Trio.

Nami patted her on the head. "You'll get used to them. And if not, you're leaving us after Alabasta anyway."

' _In body, perhaps. But in spirit, you will always be together,'_ Goo comforted, sensing a dip in Vivi's mood at Nami's words.

Zoro paused in climbing up Merry's side, his Observation going off like an alarm. "Everyone! Forget lunch! We've run into a ship!"

"Really? I didn't see anything?" Usopp wondered, scanning the horizon. Seeing nothing, he climbed into the crow's nest to get a further view. Raising a hand to block the falling snow, Usopp scanned in the direction his own Observation alerted him the hundreds of presences were. Usopp blinked when he made out a lone figure. "Everyone… do you think it's possible to stand on the ocean?"

"When it's frozen, sure. If you mean can someone walk on water… well, stranger things have happened," Nami admitted.

"A man standing on water? Awesome!" Luffy said, stars shining in his eyes.

"Case in point," Nami stated.

"Why you asking, Usopp?" Sanji called out.

"Because there is a man standing on the ocean," Usopp called, pointing.

Everyone leaned over the railing of the Merry to look.

There, feet on the ocean as if it were the floor, stood a man who was a bit taller than average. He had wavy lips and a sad expression. He wore a checkered jester-like green-blue costume with purple lining at the end of the sleeves, a white winter cape with purple lining, that he tied against his chest, and grey buttons, with a light brown bow and a bag of arrows on his back. He had dark green pants, and blue shoes with white buckles.

In short, he looked ridiculous.

The Straw Hat crew, one and all, stared. Then, they reached up an arm to rub their eyes, sure they were hallucinating.

Igaram narrowed his eyes. Where did he recognize this man?

"My, it's cold today," the jester stated cordially.

The crew all jumped. The man was real, it seemed. Or this was a very detailed illusion. "It is cold today," Luffy mused.

"Yes, cold, real cold," Sanji concurred.

"You think so too?" the jester asked pleasantly.

The crew jumped. ' _He's still there!'_

Vivi hung her head. This was getting ridiculous.

"Increase buoyancy!" shouted a voice… from below the water?

In a rush, a massive submersible raised up where the jester was standing. The Merry rocked and rolled from the displaced water. Everyone, were they not supported by their Embraced muscles, would have been sent tumbling. Luffy gaped at the giant submarine that had emerged. "What is that? A watermelon?"

Steel panels forming a dome around the ship collapsed, pulled in by cranks and levers. A figurehead of a placid hippo came up out of the water. From the crow's nest flew a black flag.

"Pirates!" Robin identified.

"Surprised, aren't you?" called out a smug, arrogant voice. "This is my Giant Ambush Diving Ship: the Bliking!"

Vivi gaped. ' _That voice!'_

Those paying attention to the group mind gawked. What chain of events had led to a King of a World Government country to turn pirate?

The Bliking pulled up alongside the Going Merry and numerous gangplanks were set down. Everyone on deck stood around, not at all threatened by the newcomers. When they were all surrounded by men in brown fur coats with rifles, the 'captain' of the ship walked onto the Merry.

King Wapol of the Drum Kingdom was an overweight man with an unusual appearance. Most noteworthy of which was his cylindrical jaw made up of tin plates. His blue hair stuck out from under a White Walkie fur that covered his head and back. He was munching on a piece of meat stuck through with a knife.

"Are you lowlifes really pirates? Look like a bunch of weirdos in costumes," he mused. "Looks like there's eight of you, plus a pet." Wapol opened his mouth wide and bit off the whole piece of meat, knife and all.

The Embraced gaped. Sure, they ate metal all the time to strengthen their skeletons, but they had Goo to break it down harmlessly before it hurt them. What kind of weirdo was this guy? ' _It hurts just looking at him,'_ Usopp sent telepathically. Vivi, Igaram, Carue, and Nami all nodded.

"No matter how you look at it, that's just not enough for a pirate crew," Wapol commented. "Ah, well, might as well ask. We're headed to the Drum Kingdom. Do you have an Eternal Pose or even a Log Pose?"

"Ain't got one," Sanji bit out, taking issue with the muzzle pressed up against his cheek.

"If you don't have one, that's that. But, I will be taking your treasures and your ship," Wapol said, a greedy grin on his lips. "But before I do, I'm feeling a mite peckish." So saying, he turned to the nearest railing of the Merry and, opening his jaws wide, bit off a huge chunk of it.

The Straw Hat crew gaped as the royal bit and chewed on a piece of wood bigger than his head, his mouth somehow expanding to house it all. He swallowed and called out "This ship ain't half bad!" Then the biomass reached his brain and he fell to the ground, a snot bubble coming out of his nose, as the sedative kicked in.

"Wapol-sama!" called out the soldiers.

"We're in a hurry, so no time for fun, guys. On three?" Luffy asked.

"One," Zoro said.

"Two," Sanji counted.

"What do you bastard pirates think you're -" One of the soldiers shouted.

" _Three!_ " shouted the Straw Hats and guests, sending out a coordinated wave of Conquering Haki. All those soldiers on the Going Merry as well as the horde still on the Bliking passed out, foaming at the mouth. The sea was eerily silent in the wake of that wave of power.

Luffy walked over and kicked Wapol 'lightly' in the stomach. "Dumb big mouth, don't eat my ship!"

' _Peace, Luffy. Merry has already regenerated and it led to him entering our Embrace. We do not harm others in the Embrace.'_

Luffy pouted. "I know, I know. Let's just go get all this guy's lackeys and we'll be on our way."

As the Straw Hat Pirates set about Embracing Wapol's crew, Vivi came over to examine the king. "I remember he was a horrible man. What led him to fleeing his country, I wonder?"

"We'll know within the hour, princess. He will join the Embrace quite soon with the amount of biomass he… ate," Igaram answered.

With the roughly 1500 soldiers on the Bliking sorted into neat rows and piles, courtesy of Robin's powers to move and arrange them, the Straw Hats sailed around the diving ship and continued their journey to the nearest island, which was now revealed to be Drum Island.

By the time the crew were in sight of the island, the entirety of the Drum Kingdom Army was in the Embrace, along with their pathetic excuse of a leader. Vivi wanted to go back and rip out that joke of a King's eyes. "How dare he? How dare he just abandon his people? I don't care how strong this Blackbeard pirate was! You don't just take every able-bodied soldier AND every doctor and run off with your tail between your legs! And he's been playing at being pirate while trying to find his way back? That… that… jackass!"

"Princess! Language!" Igaram panicked.

"Oh, give her a break, Curly. This Wapol guy is easily the most despicable guy we've got in the Embrace yet," Luffy spoke up.

' _We will do our best to… rehabilitate him, but he's been raised from the cradle to think he's better than others. It will take a great deal of time and conditioning. This isn't like Arlong, where it was one traumatic event that colored him.'_ Goo explained.

"Blackbeard, huh? Think he's emulating Whitebeard?" Nami asked.

"Goo and I have been reviewing the chatter and Marine data. The Blackbeard Pirates were formed roughly six months ago, after the leader, Marshall D. Teach aka 'Blackbeard', murdered Fourth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Thatch." Robin crossed her arms, brow furrowed. "What could have possessed him to cross Whitebeard? He won't be able to show his face in a quarter of the New World, and members of Whitebeard's crew may hunt him into Paradise. Assuming he's not insane, he must have had a very good reason to do such a thing."

"We might run into a Whitebeard Pirate or one of the Blackbeard Pirates on our adventure. We'll get the answers then. Until then, we can only speculate," Sanji reasoned. "Now, ladies, your biomass soup is still warm 3~"

Goo made sure that the Straw Hat crew and guests were settled into a good lunch. Then it turned most of its processing power to contemplating the Munch-Munch Fruit. The Fruit wasn't really that exceptional in execution. Biomass already allowed those in the Embrace to break down all organic and a great many inorganic materials. Still, the Fruit's secondary function of transforming all eaten substances into a fused whole was interesting. In theory, it could be used to create new alloys and mixtures that were previously inaccessible to the Embrace. In fact… with Galdino's wax… and Ted's explosive powers… Goo wandered deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of modifying and combining Devil Fruit powers.

The crew finished their lunch of biomass, altered by Goo's control of their taste buds to be the peak of tastiness, as imagined by Sanji. With Goo mining the sensory memories of the Baratie cooks, every member of the Embrace 'ate' like a king. Better than a king, in the case of Wapol's former rations.

The Bliking trailed a couple hours behind the Going Merry, the soldiers eager to return home to their families, whom would hopefully take them back after abandoning them. Goo assured them that once their wives and children were also in the Embrace, they would be closer than ever. Wapol picked his teeth, eyes glazed as his brain was rewired. It wasn't so much editing his character like code so much as simulating thousands of scenarios and rewarding the behaviors Goo approved of. In terms of relative time, Wapol was enduring about 40 years of etiquette and morality lessons.

Sure, it was changing him. But when a limb was gangrenous, you lopped off the parts that were sick and made due with what was left. Wapol would still feel like himself. Just a happier, kinder version of himself. Goo had put such training simulations to a vote of the Embraced and the overwhelming majority had voted in favor of using them on 'evil' people once they entered the Embrace.

Whether that vote was rigged or not was just one of those unanswerable questions.

* * *

The crew caught a view of Drum Island within the hour. They marveled at the winter wonderland, the entire island coated by a thick coat of snow. It was most definitely winter on this Winter Island. The most eye-catching detail of the island was the three conical mountains that rose up out of the ground into the sky. These were the Drum Rockies for which the island and country were named.

Luffy stopped in his admiring when he detected a number of hostile presences on land. He stopped, and looked back up at the sail and flag. "Shishishi! We forgot to hide the Jolly Roger! Now it seems everyone is gearing up to take on the pirates!"

Zoro cracked his neck. "Good. Now we know they'll all be in one place."

"They're centered on that cove there, let's anchor their," Nami called out.

Vivi huddled by Carue. "Is violence really necessary?"

"Relax, Vivi-chan," Sanji comforted, for once acting serious around her. "We're not really going to hurt them. Any damage they take will be healed by the end of the day. And more importantly, they'll be in the Embrace. A moment's pain for a lifetime's pleasure. It's worth it."

"I suppose," Vivi quibbled.

"Fufufu! Vivi-san, don't worry so much. It's bad for your health." Robin spoke up from the deck.

"..." Vivi refused to say anything, lest she offer her former enemy any kind of victory.

The Going Merry reached a rather picturesque cove, with a waterfall caused by melting snow at the mouth.

"Yosh! Adventure in Snow Island!" Luffy called out, sounding decidedly pirate-y, for a Peace Main at least.

Unfortunately, the locals had experienced the worst of the Morganeers.

"That's far enough, pirates!" called out one of the several dozen men who appeared from behind the snow drifts on the cliff. All of them had guns, though if you looked closely you would see they were all old, probably surplus from the last Army resupply.

Nami lounged by the tangerine bushes near the aft, wanting to make sure no bullets got near her mother's mementos.

"Hmm, there's some people," Zoro drawled.

"They don't seem too happy to see us," Usopp muttered, subtly reaching for his slingshot.

A hulk of a man in green walked forward. The Embraced identified him as Dalton, the former general of Wapol's army and the only man to stay behind to face Blackbeard. "Pirates," he said firmly, "We hereby demand that you depart this shore… immediately!" On the last word, all the militia aimed their guns in the Straw Hats' direction.

Luffy began to chuckle. It got picked up by Zoro and Sanji, then by Robin, and finally by Usopp and Nami. They laughed out loud, freaking out the people of the kingdom formerly known as Drum.

"You think your tricks will work on us? You filthy pirates!" shouted one of the men, hiding behind bravado.

"This is _our_ island! We're not going to let a bunch of pirates come here and invade!" yelled another.

"Just pull up anchor, or we'll blow your ship out of the water!" cried a third.

Luffy finally got over the hilarity of the situation. "Shishishi! It's cute that you think guns scare us. But before we get started, you should know our crew's motto."

Dalton reached for the giant shovel he used as a weapon. "What is that?"

"We Are Here To Help," the Straw Hats said in unison. And then their cowls came up, turning them from people in weird bodysuits to full-blown monsters. As one, four of them leapt onto the shore, two on each side.

"Oni Giri!" Zoro shouted, slashing through the coats of a dozen militia in his way to have his biomass swords touch the skin underneath.

"Party Table Kick Course!" Sanji spun on his hands, planting his feet in the faces of everyone in his range.

"Trienta Fleur!" Robin called, choking thirty men at once so they would be defenceless for her to go in and slap them across the face.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy declared, dodging Dalton's initial swipe to punch the strongest man on the island in the face.

Nami watched over the Merry while Usopp picked off the ones that his nakama didn't get to immediately. Vivi and Igaram just huddled by Carue, hoping they wouldn't get hit by any stray bullets. They'd feel like bee stings, but still.

In less than a minute, it was over. The welcoming committee were all laid out in the snow, biomass firmly entrenched and replicating in their systems, oozing into every cell, bringing them to the higher existence that was the Embrace. Luffy patted Dalton on the head. "It was a good idea. Just didn't work on us."

Sanji hopped from foot to foot, still itching for a fight. "Well, that wasn't much exercise."

"There's four towns on the island! Why don't each of you take one?" Nami called out to the heavy hitters of the crew, which apparently included Robin. Fair enough, the woman had taken down a Giant, but still. It made Nami feel a bit inferior.

' _You are just as suited for combat as any of them, Nami. You merely choose not to engage. And that is perfectly fine. You contribute more than enough to the crew with your navigational skills. Leave the fighting to those that enjoy it,'_ Goo consoled her.

"You're right," Nami breathed, before turning to check that her tangerines were healthy as possible.

Using Wapol's and his Army's knowledge of the local geography, the Monster Trio, now a Quartet, set off for their own individual towns.

Luffy arrived at Bighorn, only to sense that the town was half-deserted. This must be where most of the men from the shore had come from. Stretching his arms out behind him, Luffy set about going through each house and touching each person. He mostly got women, children, and the elderly, though there were a handful of men left behind as a token defense. They all proved no challenge at all to the First Embraced. This was like cutting grass, a simple chore that required no effort. In fact, Luffy was so bored after Embracing Bighorn that he decided to go climb the mountain and check out Wapol's castle. If he ran into some Lapahn, that would just spice things up a little.

Zoro went to Cocoa Weed, where he found a lively town packed with people. Most of them were talking about the 'witch doctor' coming to visit until they noticed the green biomass-covered beast coming at them with three swords. Zoro, moving with a grace and skill that matched if not exceeded his brute strength, knicked or cut everyone he came across. When he reached a bar named 'Stool' at the center of town, he was met with the odd sight of what appeared to be a grandmother in a tank top and a tanuki. The brown-furred creature chewed a yellow ball and then proceeded to go through seven different transformations. Zoro drew the fight out just to get excitement from the whole thing, getting eager to welcome this creature into the Embrace, before getting in his final attack. He'd then had to deal with the surprisingly deadly assault of the old lady, the notorious witch doctor Kureha, for killing her 'son'. It took some doing, but Zoro managed to Embrace the entire town, even those that had fled off into the wilderness.

Sanji and Robin went to Robelle and Gyasta, respectively. They had no troubles, sweeping through the towns much like Luffy had at Bighorn, just with more people. When she was done, Robin did some exploring and found the hollowed-out tree where Kureha lived, though a cursory examination proved the place was deserted. Curiously, the tree had a ropeway up to the castle attached to it. Sanji trounced any resistance and managed to Embrace the town without any real damage, not even to the poor screaming ladies that fainted at his mask. Did Goo really have to use such a scary way to protect their identities?

Luffy had fun fighting with the polar bear-sized rabbits, even having a brief snowboarding episode when they caused an avalanche. Luckily, Luffy knew how to Moonwalk. Once that was done, Luffy got to the base of the mountain and readied himself for a challenge. Then, he proceeded to climb 5000 meters straight up. Once he reached the summit, he found the castle's door propped open for a bird nest and a pirate flag waving from the top turret.

The Bliking landed at the same shore the Straw Hats had used. King Wapol himself walked off the gangplank to regard his subjects. When he came to Dalton, he reached down and patted the man's unconscious head.

"You were always the best of us, Dalton. I see that now. You kept hoping I would become my father." Wapol, whom had 'eaten' himself and slimmed down on the ride over, gave a magnanimous grin. "Well, it took some help, but it's happened. I'm ready to be the king this country deserves."

As the sun set, everyone prepared to wish the Straw Hats good luck on their journey. Kureha's and Tony Tony Chopper's things had been cleared out of the castle and packed. Kureha's things would be going back to her house in Gyasta. Chopper's things would be going into the infirmary on the Going Merry. Luffy had found him and his seven transformations to be the coolest thing ever. And given the variety of species held under the Embrace, the fact that he wasn't human was a non-issue. Luffy had heartfeltly invited Chopper to be his doctor and his nakama, and the little reindeer had accepted. It felt so nice, so unbelievably nice, to not be alone anymore. To be _understood_ , to have _friends_. The Embrace was the best thing to ever happen to Choppper.

Goo had all but squealed with glee when Chopper had first entered the Embrace. Not only a gifted medical mind joined the ranks, but it got its figurative hands on the Human-Human Fruit. The code for intelligence, sentience, what made a man a man, laid out for the taking. Within a day, every animal in the Embrace, including Laboon, would be gifted with the hybrid and full-human transformations. And once Goo found a way to psionically replicate the Rumble Ball, all bets were off. And who knows what an Awakened Human Zoan would be like!

Dalton's own Ox-Ox Fruit, Model: Bison was almost ignored, but not forgotten. The shift and growth in muscle that came with the transformation would be thoroughly studied.

Kureha and Wapol, working together in a way that could only be possible in the Embrace, gave Chopper a sending-away present. When the moon was shining down on the Going Merry, cannons began to fire Hiluluk's miracle powder into the snow clouds. Once the spotllights went on, the effect was of a giant sakura tree in full bloom, shedding petals down on Drum Kingdom.

Chopper cried his eyes out, overjoyed that his father's work had been completed.


	10. Chapter 10

**My thanks to all who read this far in my little niche experiment. You truly make it all worth it.**

* * *

Luffy was all but chomping at the bit to get to Alabasta. He probably would have Moonwalked or swam there if he thought it was faster than Nami's navigation and Merry's graceful speed. It wasn't even about Crocodile or the Embrace anymore. It was about his brother.

"Ace is waiting~! For me~!" Luffy all but sang, hopping in place from his special seat on Merry's head. "Ace is waiting~! For me~!"

Nami sighed. "Luffy, he said in Robelle that he would wait 10 days. That was six days ago. And it's a good three or four days to Alabasta. We might miss him."

Luffy turned to her with such an expression of despair that Nami found herself backtracking.

"I-I mean we'll definitely get there in time. The currents are good and we've stopped releasing pheromones so no Sea Kings should get in the way." Nami sighed as he looked away, back to his chanting. "I'll say whatever you want, just don't look at me like I shot your puppy ever again."

Chopper walked up to Luffy in his prefered hybrid form, his feet making adorable clopping noises on the deck. "Hey, Luffy, what's it like to have a big brother?" the 15-year-old asked innocently.

Luffy grinned. "It's the best! He's so strong, and he looks out for me all the time, even when I don't really want him to. I was always chasing after him. He didn't really like me at first, but he warmed up to me." Luffy grinned. "Shishishi! I never beat him in a fight. No matter how much we fought, I never beat him once!"

Chopper nodded along, and was swept away as other little brothers in the Embrace plied him with stories. Nami, meanwhile, raised a brow. "There's someone who beat you consistently?"

"Yep! And that was three years ago! Who knows how strong he's gotten now?" Luffy looked into the distance before laughing. "Shishishi! Bet I could beat him now, though! Thanks to Goo!"

' _We endeavor to give you the best body possible. It is up to you to train and use it well,'_ the slime replied. ' _Now, if you will excuse use, we are close to reverse-engineering the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Giant. This will be the first artificial Devil Fruit we have created. The experiments are promising but this is unchartered territory.'_

Luffy blinked. "Oh. So you could make it so we could all turn into Giants like flicking a switch?"

' _Indeed. It's devilishly complicated and we need all the processing power we can spare, so please…'_ Goo trailed off, the bulk of its attention on Dawn Island and the false bodies getting the latest string of engineered genomes.

"Vivi! Help me!" cried out Carue. The spot-billed duck had been the first to get the Human-Human Fruit. He preferred to stay in his natural duck form, but he'd gotten the power of speech.

Vivi tore out of the galley to find her beloved pet being chased by a pouting Usopp. "Come on! I need the practice!"

"No! I am not flying up into the air just to have you hit me with pellets!" the super-fast water bird cried. And of course Goo had fixed the little flightless problem he'd had by strengthening his wings and conditioning his feathers to drag more air.

Vivi leaped from the deck to bash Usopp on his skull, using Armament for the first time consciously. "Usopp-san! Don't use Carue for target practice!"

"Roger that, miss…" Usopp babbled, ears ringing from the impact.

Robin kept her eyes on the horizon. The Unluckies had visited recently, with a 'kindly worded' missive from Crocodile demanding just where the hell she was and what she was thinking going off-grid for so long. Robin had petted the otter and vulture, and composed a letter stating that she'd been tailing Vivi to make sure Galdino got the job done. Since it was 'confirmed' that she was dead on Little Garden, Robin would make for Rainbase with all haste. It should tide the man over for now.

Mr. Thirteen and Miss Friday had kept their newfound sapience a secret. They had managed to Embrace all of the Billions and most of the other Frontier Agents, but sadly not Crocodile or the Officer Agents. That meant the Mr. 1 pair, Mr. 2, and the Mr. 4 pair were still active in Baroque works. Galdino and Leona were on their way to Alabasta in Galdino's personal ship, and since he hadn't made the detour to Drum they were set to arrive ahead of the Straw Hats. Goo and the others had concluded that the best move would be to follow Crocodile's orders to the letter, and then wait for a good opportunity to ambush everyone.

The general plan for Embracing Alabasta was to have the Going Merry dock at Nanohana. They would 'quietly' Embrace the port, making sure no alerts to either Crocodile, the rebels, or the Royal Army got out. From there, they'd split up. Robin, Luffy, and Nami would go across the Sandora River to get to Rainbase, the city of dreams, and Rain Dinners, the casino that Crocodile owned. Robin in her role as Miss All-Sunday, Luffy for the chance to take on a Warlord one-on-one, and Nami to raid the casino. They didn't use money in the Embrace, but it was handy to have when dealing with non-Embraced until such time as they were claimed. Vivi and the other Straw Hats would go to Katorea, where most recent info confirmed that the rebel army had moved with the collapse of Yuba. It made Vivi burn to know that Crocodile had buried the home of her childhood friend in sand all out of his fear of water. Vivi would try and arrange a private audience with Kohza, which would hopefully lead to a chance to quietly Embrace all 700,000 in the Rebel Army.

Once the two sides had done their duties, they'd meet up at Alubarna, where Carue will have set out from Nanohana straight away. He'd hopefully Embrace King Cobra as well as Chaka and Pell, and from there go about Embracing the rest of the Royal Army and the capital city at large. Then, assuming nothing had gone wrong, all 3 million citizens of the Alabasta Kingdom would be in the Embrace. This would be a Big Deal. Goo would grow exponentially in power and potency with each new mind, getting smarter and faster at what it did best. The current embrace was less than 50,000 people. Having an Embrace in the millions would be an order of magnitude greater for all involved. There would be that much more love, more connection, more harmony. And Goo would get over a million new nodes to aid in its processing.

And Robin would have a chance to read the Poneglyph and either fill a gap in the Void Century the Roger Pirates had missed or learn the location of the warship Pluton. If it was the former, she'd weep for joy at this reclaimed piece of history. If it were the latter, she'd be disappointed, but would console herself that the knowledge helped the Embrace. A navy of such ships, made out of living biomass, would be a potent weapon if and when there was a counter-invasion.

Garp and Koby were reporting success, with Helmeppo sulkily following along with his duties. True to his word, Garp had bashed into Sengoku's office and literally Embraced the man. When he'd awoken an hour or so later, it was like the Embrace was transported mentally to a calm meadow. Sengoku was a man of honor. He was a man of principle. He was a man, first and foremost, of peace. His life's work had been to protect and encourage stability throughout the world. Things hadn't worked out perfectly, but he had no regrets.

And the Psi signature on his Mythical Zoan Fruit had Goo all but salivating to work out.

They'd gotten Vice-Admiral Tsuru, who was really a glorified secretary at this point in her career given her age, and were working their way through the top brass of the Marines, while Koby and Helmeppo worked their way up from the bottom. About 10% of Marineford was Embraced already, with the rest only a matter of time and patience. They couldn't afford to rush anything. One person sounded the alarm, and all their plans would go up in smoke.

In other news in the Embrace, Don Krieg and Gin had reassembled their crew and made it down Reverse Mountain, this time armed with a Log Pose as well as their navigator being gifted with magnetic sensitivity. They had set out for one of the other six islands besides Whiskey Peak, ensuring the Embrace would spread to all of Paradise. The Fishman Pirates had arrived at the Red Line and were now preparing to cross the Calm Belt. Buggy, Kuro, and Smoker were still sailing around, Embracing each new island they reached. Dawn Island and Shell Island had formed a bio-bridge, which allowed them to trade biomass and other materials directly without having to ship them. Shanks had visited about 25% of his islands, Embracing them easily. Most people opened their doors when the Emperor of their island showed up. Any resistance that might have been had was negligible, especially with the crew now Embraced and armed with phenomenally stronger, faster bodies. Mihawk was devastating Kaido's islands, and drawing heat for it, but it was nothing the Warlord couldn't handle. Godiva had a bright idea and suggested the Embrace spread biomass with a mail-order candy service which she would run. It would have to wait until after Alabasta was Embraced and Baroque Works disbanded, but it was still a novel idea on spreading biomass to the Blues and parts of the Grand Line.

* * *

The days passed in a pleasant buzz, as the always did in the Embrace. The day a Sea Cat appeared behind the Merry was the day they knew they were in Alabastan waters.

"Whoo, a cat! I bet it's tasty!" Luffy drooled.

"They say that cats have nine lives. So I'll use nine cuts," Zoro growled, dropping his weights to grab his swords.

"I've never used this ingredient before," Sanji grinned, raising a leg.

The Sea Cat developed a sweat-drop and began to lean away from the aft where the Monster Trio were arming themselves.

As one, Vivi, Igaram, and Carue chopped them on the back of their heads. "DON'T TOUCH IT!" they roared with masks on, giving them shark teeth.

"Sea Cats are sacred in Alabasta!" Vivi scolded.

"To _eat_ one is just obscene to think about," Igaram shuddered.

"Even I know that and I've only been speaking this language for a few days!" Carue waved his wing, shaking out the pain from hitting a head as hard as Zoro's.

Nami walked back from the bow. "Still, this means that we're getting close the Alabasta."

"Fufufu! If you doubted that, Nami-san, just look at the horizon," Robin said, not even looking up from her book.

The crew gaped as they saw almost a navy of Baroque Works ships sailing in behind and beside them.

Luffy tilted his head. "Hey, Goo, are they all Embraced?"

' _You should be able to feel that for yourself. Wait a minute… ah, the sensitivity circuit was inactive for a second. Should be fixed now.'_

Luffy grinned as he _felt_ the presences, the hearts, the souls of the Billions brush against his own. "Yep, those guys are in the Embrace all right!"

Vivi reminded herself that they were now on the same side. "They should dock at the other ports besides Nanohana and Embrace them. If we all work together, the coast should be taken care of today and all that should remain in Rainbase and Alubarna." She turned to the Straw Hat crew. "Remember, we have to be subtle or the alarm will be raised. Shake hands, brush shoulders, use innocuous contact to spread biomass. When they start to feel dizzy, they'll think it's just heatstroke and get to some shade themselves. And then it's just a matter of time."

Luffy rubbed his arms. "Okay, okay. But if Ace is there, I'm getting him right away!"

"No arguments here," Vivi answered. Getting between Luffy and his goal was like stepping into the path of a charging bull.

A few hours later, the mast and flag wiped clean of the Jolly Roger, the Going Merry pulled into the Nanohana dock. Biomass in the appearance of what Vivi and Igaram assured was local attire, Luffy and the gang got of the ship.

"Remember everyone, use self-control and don't act on instinct," Nami commanded.

"Yes, yes," they all chirped obediently.

Chopper was in his Human form, or what he referred to as 'Heavy Point', to blend in. It put him at about the same height as the others in their Embraced bodies. Goo had run into a bit of a conundrum in upgrading the human-reindeer's unique body. Chopper had spent a full day in his Reindeer form in order for Goo to be sure where everything was, and then trusted in the power of the Zoan to make sure nothing ran into each other when shifting forms. It bore mentioning that in his Reindeer form, Chopper was now a proud stag rather than a mere faun, with a full rack of antlers and a thick mane.

Vivi wore a 'veil' to hide her distinctive hair. Carue, who was still too uncomfortable to use his hybrid or Human form, agreed to stay on the Merry as a lookout. This was hardly necessary, given the Merry was as alive as any of them, especially since Goo had worked out how to get objects to 'eat' Devil Fruits.

The Going Merry had yet to shift into either of its two new forms, but Luffy was hoping that it would be soon. He would bring a picnic basket and watch as his beloved ship assumed human form. Then he'd probably have an eating contest or a fight with Merry. That was just how Luffy did things.

The seven Straw Hat Pirates and two guests fanned out into Nanohana. They were all loaded to the brim with biomass and just waiting for the chance to share it. They mentally coordinated with each other, covering each other's weak spots and ensuring maximum coverage of the town. Chopper had to ask Sanji to go into the market district in his stead, since he couldn't handle the scents of all the different perfumes. They would make a purchase, greet a passerby, brush through a crowd, always making sure to get skin contact. Then Goo, having reduced the sedative effect of the biomass to reflect symptoms of heatstroke rather than just knocking a person out, would slowly begin to replicate through their system, easing into and entwining with every fiber.

Luffy followed the trail of the biggest Haki presence in the town, assuming it was Ace. He reached an open-air market and looked around. His eyes caught a purple cross with a white crescent mustache tattooed on a strong back. Luffy starred at the man walking down the street, shirtless in direct contrast to all the people wearing layers to protect them from the burning sun. He wore an orange cowboy hat and had a dagger at his waist. Luffy grinned.

"Shishishi! That's Ace, all right."

Luffy walked over, and heard a passing salesman accost his brother in all but blood. "Here? What do you think? It's a golden apple! I'll tell you something in confidence. I found this magnificent treasure while I was exploring some ancient ruins! If you take one bite of this mysterious golden apple, you will live for a thousand years!"

"Sorry, but I've no interest in living for a thousand years. It's enough if I just live through the day," the son of the Pirate King stated politely.

Luffy, who'd snuck up behind the two, grinned. "I don't know! A thousand years of eating meat and exploring the world seems like a lot of fun to me!"

Ace spun around, and Luffy got a look at his brother for the first time in three years. "Shishishi! You still have freckles!"

Ace gaped at the towering form of his 'little' brother. But there was no mistaking that hat or that smile. "Lu-Luffy? What the hell happened to you?"

"Have you seen how big Gramps was? I'm just finally hitting my growth spurt, is all." Luffy reached out and hugged Ace right into his arms, tears coming to his eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Hahaha! Still a crybaby, I see," Ace returned the hug with surprising strength, proving he was a veteran of the New World. Luffy rubbed his back, injecting as much biomass as he dared. "So, Luffy, how are things? I'm surprised you don't have a bounty yet!"

Luffy pulled back and grinned. "Shishishi! You only get in trouble if you get caught. Isn't that what Dadan taught us?"

"You're right about that, I guess. I just can't imagine _you_ keeping a low profile."

"I just tend to make friends with all the people I meet, so no one reports me," Luffy said, counting the seconds until the sedative took effect.

"Yeah, that sounds like… like…" Ace collapsed to the ground, a snot bubble appearing at his nose.

Luffy breathed out. "At least he didn't put up a fight. When he wakes up, we'll be _more_ than brothers." Scooping the Whitebeard Pirate into his arms princess-style, if only so Luffy could mock him for it later, Luffy went on the lookout for a good restaurant. Ace would need extra biomass once he woke up. He finally found a good spot named 'Spice Bean' and Luffy ducked his head walking in through the doorway.

"Oh, my! Did something happen to your friend?" the man behind the bar asked concernedly.

"Nah, he's just narcoleptic."

"Narcoleptic?"

"Yeah, narcoleptic. Falls asleep at random times." Luffy sat Ace down on a stool and took the one next to him. "I'll have half the meat. He'll have the other half. And throw in your sides and appetizers too."

"What?" the owner asked, flabbergasted. At least until Luffy pulled out a flawless pearl and placed it on the counter. Then he was all smiles.

Knew he'd get something useful out of diving beneath the Merry.

Ace startled awake, and the first thing he felt was Luffy. Luffy's arm on his shoulder, Luffy's scent in his nose, and most importantly Luffy in his _brain_. Luffy, all arms and chaos and smiles, concentrated into his raw essence and then trickled directly into Ace's mind. It made the family bond he had with Pops and the rest of the crew seem trivial and thing. Ace's naked soul was brushing against Luffy's, and the experience was sublime.

And as he floated there in confused bliss, another soul brushed his. And then another. And suddenly Ace realized that he was in a room crowded with thousands of people and they were all bumping up against him. Just a touch here, a caress there, a knock here, and each contact was the equivalent of a lifetime of friendship.

He wasn't alone. He was _wanted_. _Appreciated_. These people _valued_ him, _loved_ him, just as surely Ace valued and loved them back.

"Oh my God," he breathed out.

"It's awesome, isn't it?"

Ace turned to his little brother, whom he instinctively knew was behind this. "Luffy, what did you do? Is this part of Awakening your Devil Fruit? Stretching souls?"

"Shishishi! Points for creativity, I'll have to try that some time. No, I made a friend a couple days before I set out. A nakama, who pulled me into the Embrace. And I've never regretted it for one second. In fact, I spread it to everyone I can, so they can feel as good as I do."

"What friend? How is this done? A Devil Fruit?"

' _No magic involved, young Ace. Merely the pinnacle of genetic science on our planet of origin.'_

Ace gaped. "An alien? Are you serious? Is it psychic? Where is it?"

"Shishishi! Inside you. Goo is in your brain. Like he's in mine, and my crew, and all the people on the islands I've been to."

"And you trust this… thing?"

"Don't you?"

Ace closed his eyes and felt Goo with his Haki. Felt the underlying threads connecting his aura to Luffy's and a few thousand others, regardless of distance. His Observation strained to the limit, struggling to pick up the whisper of the Voice of the alien supposedly inside him. All he felt was goodness, a profound lack of evil, a light and gentle being composed of pure love and benevolence.

Ace breathed out. "I guess I do."

Luffy nudged the plates laid out in front of Ace. "Eat up. You'll need a lot of biomass in order to get the full package upgrade."

Ace's mind flooded with all the extra organs, senses, muscular capability, and Devil Fruits that would be his once he fed the Goo inside him enough. "Wow. Can you imagine what Pops will be able to do with this kind of body?"

Luffy grunted around a mouthful of beef. "Doesn't matter. I'll beat him up if he gets in the way of me being the Pirate King."

Ace leaned back and laughed out loud. "At least that hasn't changed!"

"Oi! I'm serious, damn it!"

Luffy and Ace ate the Spice Bean out of stock. Luffy used some of the extra biomass he'd gotten form the meal Embracing everyone in the restaurant at Shave speeds.

Ace perked up. "What's that technique you used? Is that the Marine move they use?"

"It's called Shave. The trick is to kick the ground multiple times with each step. It's one of the Six Powers the World Government teaches to the Marines and the Cipher Pols," Luffy explained.

"I'm surprised you didn't just say it was a mystery technique."

"Goo helps your brain, too. I'm only slow instead of being a total moron now!" Luffy stated with pride.

' _We did our best with him. But rubber isn't the best conductor of electricity and, well, his brain was rubber for ten years,'_ Goo added on.

Luffy perked up. "Oh, the first guys we touched are starting to wake up! They'll get some biomass and then start spreading it themselves. This whole town should be done by nightfall."

"It's like a virus. A super-healthy virus," Ace marveled, feeling the changes in his own body already begin.

"Hey! Want to go swimming? It's surprisingly fun!"

"Sure, I guess!"

And so Ace and Luffy bonded by spending a little time at the beach. There weren't many willing to swim in the Sea King and Kung Fu Dugong infested waters, but those that did admired the two shirtless guys splashing around. Luffy Embraced them to get them to stop distracting him from teaching Ace his strokes. And the rest of his crew continued to Embrace Nanohana, which sped up exponentially as the first wave began to awaken.

When the sun was setting, the crew had gathered at the beach with Ace and Luffy.

"Oh, everyone! This is Ace! Is the town done?" Luffy called out.

"Yes. Nanohana is completely Embraced, as are all the other port towns," Vivi spoke up, dropping her veil to let her hair fall freely. "It's incredible, being able to feel my people so personally. I feel like I can truly know what's going on in my country on a level no ruler ever has before."

' _I know what you mean,'_ Wapol spoke up from Drum, where things were running quite smoothly with Goo to help coordinate everything.

"So now we split up! But first, there's one thing we have to do…" Luffy said ominously.

Ace grinned and adjusted his hat. "Indeed, there is."

"FIGHT!" the two roared before launching at each other.

What? Luffy needed practice going up against a Logia.


	11. Chapter 11

**I was a bit ahead of schedule so I figured "why not? Double update!" So enjoy your two for the price of one special.**

* * *

After Luffy and Ace settled their fight (with Luffy insisting that a tie was not the same as losing), Ace set off on Striker, the glorified surfboard that ran on his Flame-Flame Fruit powers. Ace's original plan had been to hand Luffy a Vivre card and then continue his hunt for Whitebeard. Now, he was aiming to get to Sabaody and back through Fishman Island into the New World. Ace would be their Trojan Horse into Whitebeard's crew. Blackbeard, pah. He was nothing. He would be found and Embraced eventually, and all his sins forgiven as his soul was cleansed of whatever madness or evil had afflicted him. Ace was just eager to spread this glorious feeling, this new way of life, this Embrace to his adopted family. He'd track down the Moby Dick and spread the Embrace to everyone on board.

And from there they'd tour Whitebeard's islands, contact the crews affiliated with the Whitebeard Pirates, and generally spread the Embrace throughout the New World.

Ace worried a bit about Marco finding out about Ace's crush on him, but figured that a life of no secrets and a little awkwardness was worth psychic coexistence.

Luffy watched his brother rocket away into the distance, following the Vivre card back to the Whitebeards' contact in Sabaody. Ace hadn't bothered to give Luffy his own, since they would always be together and able to find each other now thanks to Goo.

Accepting the bittersweet feeling of seeing a member of his family leave in body, even if they would be united in spirit, Luffy turned to his crew and the Alabastan guests. "Yosh! So, Robin, Nami, and I cross the river to get to Rainbase, right?"

Vivi nodded. "Yes, though I'm not sure how you'll get there."

"We could head towards Spiders Cafe. An F-Wani should be there tomorrow evening in order to pick up the Officer Agents and transport them to Rainbase. We could Embrace them with the help of Galdino and Leona and hitch a ride," Robin suggested.

Luffy frowned and shook his head. "No. Let Wax-guy and Art-girl handle that. I don't want to ride some dumb croc when I'm here to beat one up!"

"There are Kung Fu Dugongs in these waters. If you Embrace a few, they could swim you up the Sandora very fast and get you close enough to just run," Igaram put forth.

"You mean those guys?" Luffy asked, pointing to a bunch of shelled manatee-like creatures that had popped up out of the water during Luffy and Ace's fight. They'd been minor distractions at best, all falling to one hit from two-thirds of the ASL trio before resuming their duel.

"Yes," Igaram said, sweat-dropping. He'd been focused on protecting the princess during the fight, so he'd missed that small interlude.

"Nah, I'll leave them to Embrace all the other local wildlife in these waters." Luffy grinned. "I know. Goo?"

' _Luffy, there are still terabytes of calculations necessary before an actual flight is…'_

"Goo. Sometimes you need to run before you can walk," Luffy said with all his counterintuitive wisdom.

' _*Sigh* Very well. We Are Here To Help,'_ the slime muttered just a tad ruefully.

With a surge of biomass, Luffy, Robin, and Nami sprouted wings.

"Oh, yeah! This is a much more fun way to travel than riding some dumb animals," Luffy cheered.

"There are no 'dumb' animals in the Embrace anymore, remember Luffy? Not since we got Tony-kun," Vivi tried to explain.

"Don't bother, Vivi, he's not listening," Nami said, inspecting her new appendages with a critical eye while Luffy continued to gawk at his own wings.

"Fufufu! I made a move like this, but I could only hold it for ten seconds. This will be much more sustainable," Robin commented, running a hand over the biomass construct and feeling the neural feedback Goo provided.

"How come they get to fly while we have to walk?" Chopper complained, right up there with Luffy in thinking the wings were awesome.

"Because it's the dutiful man that takes the well-trodden path," Usopp nodded, trying to sound wise and succeeding, at least where the impressionable youth was concerned.

Luffy gave a few flaps, coming a good ten feet off the ground. "Shishishi! This is fun!"

Zoro grunted. "Alright. So Luffy, the witch, and Robin will fly to Rainbase. That leaves the rest of us to take on Katorea and the Rebel Army."

Sanji bonked him on the head with his heel. "Don't call Nami-swan a witch!"

"I'll call her whatever I want, you exiled prince!"

"Oh, we're going for childhoods now? Then I'm sure you won't mind me bringing up how you lost 2000 times to a _girl_!"

Before Zoro could retort, he and Sanji felt a foreboding presence. They both turned to find the three women looking at Sanji with shadowed eyes.

"What was that Sanji?" Vivi asked politely, promising plentiful pain.

"I'm sure I heard you wrong," Nami said, looking like an avenging angel with her flare wings.

"Are you perhaps suggesting that losing to a girl is _shameful_?" Robin asked rhetorically, her bangs shadowing her ice-blue eyes.

Zoro wisely backed away.

"Um… you see… that is… what I meant…" Sanji sputtered, knowing he was in deep shit. Leaping on a sudden thought, he shouted "Last one to Katorea is a rotten egg!" With that, he took off into the distance.

The three girls dissolved into giggles. "That's not even the right direction!" Vivi chuckled.

"Did you see his face? Hilarious!"

"Fufufu! We sure showed him!"

"I don't get human women," Chopper said plainly.

"You're not alone, my friend. You are not alone," Usopp said solemnly.

And so the group split into two. Luffy, Robin, and Nami used their new wings to take flight, aided by the fact that they were only 1 Kilo in weight thanks to Miss Valentine's Fruit being available to them. They'd fly like falcons through the sky, aided by the muscle memories of a few thousand birds in the Embrace. And if they got hit by a gust of wind or cramped a wing muscle, they had Moonwalk to correct their course and a half-dozen different ways to negate the impact should they touch the ground.

The others went to Katorea, where Kohza and the Rebel Army were based, and more than a few Baroque Works Millions and Billions were embedded.

Carue alone ran through the night, a message from Vivi clutched in his bill, the miles being eaten up under his claws as he made for the Royal City, Alubarna.

* * *

Nami admired the sunrise. "You know, once you get the hang of this, it's like a nice jog. You can just relax and let your body move."

"Indeed. Though I personally find it a bit boring and repetitive for my taste," Robin called back.

Nami rolled her eyes. "You can always follow the idiot's example."

"Woohoo!" Luffy screamed out, executing a double loop-de-loop before dropping into a vertical dive, waiting until the last possible moment to angle his wings and catch the air before slamming into the ground.

"No, thanks. I prefer activities with a minimal chance of a broken neck." Robin paused. "For myself, at least."

"You are way too wicked for this crew," Nami dead-panned.

"Fufufu!"

Between the strength of their wings and the lightness of their bodies, they devoured the miles like Wapol at a buffet. By the time the sun was starting to set, they had cleared the distance to Rainbase, having done a three-day land journey in one via the air.

"Luffy-san, Nami-san, I shall go ahead as Miss All-Sunday. I will oversee the final meeting for Operation Utopia. Then I will give the signal for you to be… well, you, Luffy-san."

"Shishishi! I can't wait to kick a Warlord's ass! Mihawk doesn't count. We ganged up on him. I want to do it just me!" Luffy grinned.

"One solid hit and you win the fight. How is that a challenge?" Nami questioned.

"It's a challenge to see how fast I can do it! And how much damage he manages to give before the biomass knocks him out."

Nami rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll be robbing the vault to give us some spending money to have on hand. Have your little duel. If you were smart, you'd just let Robin do it. Didn't the fight with Ace tide you over any?"

"I _have_ to fight Ace, that's what we do! This is just for fun!"

"What Captain wants, Captain gets," Robin said cheerfully.

' _Sadly, yes. The whims of the First are always the most heeded.'_ Goo admitted. ' _It is how we repay our debt of gratitude for saving the Seed and allowing the Embrace to spread to a new planet.'_

"So if, say, Sanji or Arlong had been the one to find it…" Nami asked, a curl of dread in her heart.

' _Things would be mostly the same as they are now. Though Sanji would get inside hints on which girl to flirt with and Arlong would have wanted every Embraced to be modeled after Fishmen, not humans. The First is by no means 'king' or 'queen' of the Embrace. They are simply… the First.'_

"The favorite child," Nami muttered, understanding.

' _Every child is our favorite.'_

"Uh huh, yeah, sure."

The three touched down in the desert outside the city, not wanting to draw undue attention by landing in full bodysuits in the central plaza. Luffy and Nami shifted into versions of the local attire, whereas Robin went with a flamboyant white cowgirl outfit complete with a fur coat. She looked drop-dead sexy, not that Luffy even noticed. She smiled and them and stepped into the city of Rainbase.

Luffy and Nami waited 15 minutes before shadowing her route, making it eventually to the heart of the city and the pyramid of Rain Dinners. Despite the late hour, the entrance was packed with people lounging and talking, taking a break from gambling inside.

Resisting the urge to Embrace anyone, Luffy and Nami sat at adjacent slot machines. They mindlessly slid coins Nami had pickpocketed into the machines, most of their attention on Robin.

Robin had breezed past security, whom recognized her on site. She made her way through the innards of the casino to Crocodile's office, which for whatever reason he had down in the prison section. Excuse her, 'underwater aquarium' section.

"So, you're finally back, _Nico Robin,_ " Crocodile growled around the cigar in his mouth. The scar that Whitebeard had given him across his nose was really quite distracting. He was dressed in a casual suit with his usual fur coat laid over it in flagrant disregard to the heat. His eyes were like two cannon barrels, aimed at whoever was unlucky enough to be in his path.

"I thought we agreed that we wouldn't use that name," Robin said neutrally. "I got swept up in the tragedy I was following. A lost princess, desperate to save her people, going up against Baroque Works alone only to perish in the end. It was like watching a play."

"Did you really have to follow her for so long? The results were inevitable. I've had to do all your duties as manager on top of running communications and keeping up the front of 'Hero of Alabasta'. The Officer Agents are due to arrive in less than an hour!" Crocodile snarled, much like his namesake.

"Then isn't it lucky I arrived today instead of tomorrow?" Robin pointed out. "Never worry, I'll still read the Poneglyph for you. Your true plan is still on schedule."

Crocodile narrowed his eyes. "Did you put on muscle?"

Robin didn't even blink. "No, I just skipped a few meals. I traveled light in order to arrive her promptly."

"Ah, that must be it." Crocodile held her under his reptilian stare for a moment longer before closing his eyes and waving his hands. "Get the Penthouse ready for our guests."

"Right away," Robin said pleasantly, turning her back on the predator in her midst, confident that she had tamed it for the moment.

Nami let out a breath. "That was close."

Luffy nodded before blinking as his machine started flashing lights. "Whoa, I won!"

While Nami and Luffy dealt with the mad scramble for dropped Bellies that centered on their machine, Robin set up the best room in the casino for the Officer Agents. Goo informed her that the Mr. 3 pair and Mr. 5 pair had succeeded in embracing their superiors. So now almost all of Baroque Works was in the Embrace, save for a few stray Millions and Mr. 0 himself.

Robin greeted the flamboyant characters as they arrived in the F-Wani and guided them through the casino to the grand table where Crocodile bid them to sit.

Five minutes, ten minutes, an hour passed.

"STOP JOKING AROUND!" Mr. 2 Bon Clay, aka Bentham, shouted at the top of his lungs, every inch the jilted diva. "Just how long is he going to make us wait? I'll dance! I'll do it, you know! I'm a swan!"

Mr. 4 laughed in his slow way at the okama's antics.

"Mr. 2, please be quiet," Miss Doublefinger asked tiredly.

"Yeah, really! You idiot! Id-! Id-!" Miss Merrychristmas rattled, off, speaking too fast for her mouth.

"You too, Miss Merrychristmas," Miss Doublefinger added.

"Fufufu! It seems you aren't getting along! Not that it really matters," Robin noted, standing on the stairs leading down into the sunken room.

"Miss All-Sunday," Mr. 1, aka Daz Bonez acknowledged.

"Thank you for coming all this way. I'm glad that you could make it," Robin stated as she walked down the stairs. To the city where people dream of winning an instant fortune through gambling: The City of Dreams, Rainbase. And to the largest casino in this city, Rain Dinners, I welcome you."

"Skip the formalities and get to the point, Miss All-Sunday," Mr. 1 said in a bored tone.

"As you wish, I will continue the briefing," Robin said.

"Yeah, start it! Get to it! Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!" Miss Merrychristmas babbled.

"But before I do, I must introduce to you the Boss of our organization, whose face you've yet to see," Robin continued. "Until now, I have acted as his representative, and relayed his orders to you. But there is no longer a need for that. You understand, don't you?"

Crocodile spoke up from the head of the table, turning the chair so they all could face him. "In other words, the time has come for Operation Utopia!"

The Officer Agents all gaped, shocked at this turn of events… or at least they put on splendid acting performances to the same effect. Crocodile didn't notice.

"The final objective of Baroque Works," Crocodile elaborated.

"As expected, you seem to know him. His public face, at least," Robin spoke up from the side.

The Officer Agents all raised a fuss over working for a pirate all this time. Crocodile listened to them with eyes closed before opening them to stare them all down. "Any objections?" he asked menacingly.

There was silence.

"I have no objections, but I have to wonder. The Seven Warlords of the Sea are pirates sanctioned by the World Government to pillage at will. Why would you need to form this organization?" Miss Doublefinger asked.

"What I seek is neither money nor social status. It is military power." Crocodile began, moving to take out a cigar.

' _Now, Luffy-san'_ Robin mentally commanded.

On cue, Luffy stood up, donned his bodysuit and cowl, and roared. "CROCODILE!"

Luffy then 'attacked' all of the casino patrons, injecting them with biomass while knocking them out. Luffy made sure to stop and roar "Crocodile!" a few more times. Meanwhile, in the chaos, Nami slipped past security to get to where they kept the Belly.

Robin coughed into her hand. "Beg your pardon, Mr. 0, but some sort of monster is causing a ruckus in the casino. It's calling you out as well."

"What?" Crocodile asked, pulling his lighter away from his cigar.

"A rather tall man wearing some kind of costume or armor is wreaking havoc on the main floor. He's knocking down the security like flies. I think this requires your personal attention."

Crocodile scowled. "Damn Rookies, have the nerve to cause trouble in MY city. I'll deal with this idiot soon enough." Dissolving into a swirl of sand, Crocodile swept through the halls of his casino until he got to the main floor. As Nico Robin had told him, a guy in a costume or suit was rampaging around, knocking people and furniture around like paperweights. It paused and turned to face the Warlord.

"CROCODILE!" Luffy roared, licking his shark-like teeth and leaving his tongue to hang out as he breathed.

Crocodile would forever deny it, but he was the teensiest bit scared by that terrifying visage.

He rolled his eyes and snorted. "Want to test yourself against a Warlord, huh? You and I are not the same class of pirate," he said condescendingly.

Luffy's only response was to lunge at lightning speeds. Crocodile shifted into sand on reflex, which scattered all over the room as a fist tore through the space his body used to be.

Crocodile reconsidered his position as he reformed behind the monster. "Alright, you have _some_ skill. But it's not enough. Desert Encierro," he intoned, reaching out with his right hand.

Except the beast was no longer there. Crocodile gaped. If it was fast enough that even _he_ couldn't see it, then this was much more serious than he'd expected.

He felt a finger poke his shoulder.

Cursing the fact he'd never picked up Haki, Crocodile swung around with his hand transformed into sand. "Desert Spada!" he sent out a blade of sand with the cry that would erode everything in his wake.

He hit nothing but the walls of his own casino.

Crocodile felt hot breath against his hair.

He looked up just in time to see white teeth and a pink throat.

And then Crocodile, Warlord of the Sea, a man who'd had a bounty of 80 million Belly, got swallowed whole.

Luffy waited a few seconds, armoring his GI tract internally with Armament so Crocodile couldn't dehydrate him. When he was certain that all his fluids had coated the man and soaked him through with biomass, Luffy opened his mouth and heaved. Crocodile slid out, his clothes patchy from Luffy's stomach acid, sleeping like a baby. A baby having a nightmare, perhaps, but a baby all the same.

"Well, that was boring. He was so _slow_ ," Luffy complained. "I'm off to fight the giant Bananawani in the basement. That should be a challenge, right?"

"Very well, Luffy-san. The other Officer Agents and I will go out and start Embracing the rest of the city. We should have it done by morning if we go for the aggressive route." Robin poked a purple biomass-covered toe at Crocodile's face. "To think I once feared this man so. The Embrace has made me more than I ever dreamed possible."

' _That is our intent, Robin. Ever better, that is our creed. We Are Here To Help.'_

"Indeed. Now let's go 'help' Rainbase."

Clad in their bodysuits, the Officer Agents of Baroque Works exited Rain Dinners and set out to spread the Embrace.

* * *

The sun shined brightly down on Katorea. Vivi and Igaram walked right into the center of town, not even trying to disguise their appearance. The Straw Hats stood around her like bodyguards. People stopped and stared as they realized the Princess of Alabasta was in their midst. Vivi made sure to give each of them a kind smile.

When they got to the town center, Vivi stepped up on a merchant's crate and called out. "I am Nefertari Vivi, Princess of the Kingdom of Sand, Alabasta! As your future queen, I demand you listen to me!" Her voice was projected, carrying out throughout the dusty town.

"I have evidence that the Dance Powder found in the royal palace was planted. I have evidence that a criminal syndicate is framing the King, _your_ King, Nefertari Cobra! I have evidence that this war you are getting ready for is based on a _lie_!"

People stopped and murmured. Could it be true? What if she was just trying to clear her father's name. Could there really be a conspiracy?"

"I know the Rebel Army is based in this town. I ask that I be led to the leader, Kohza of Yuba, that I may present my evidence and state my case. I swear on my honor as a Princess, as an Alabastan, and as a member of the Sand Sand Band that he will not be arrested for his crimes against the crown!"

They waited, Vivi staring gently but firmly into the crowd. Finally, a man stepped forward. "I'll take you to Leader."

"Kebi!" Vivi noted in recognition.

The man gave a half-grin at his childhood friend. "I hope this isn't a trick, Vivi. I'll never forgive you if it is."

Vivi swallowed. "What I do, I do for the good of all Alabasta. Even the Rebels."

Kebi nodded and led them through the town, taking them to an out of the way warehouse. Word had already been sent ahead, it seemed, because Kohza was waiting for them.

"Princess," the Rebel leader said with just a touch of scorn.

Vivi bowed her head. "Leader," she called him, like she had when they were little.

"We're not children anymore. Unless you're here to join the Rebellion, don't call me that." Kohza's words were sharp and honed as a knife.

Vivi squared her shoulders. "I would never join this foolish organization. You're ready to tear this country to pieces over rumors and false evidence!"

"So you claim. And how convenient is it that the daughter of the man causing this drought is the one to come forward with evidence of his innocence?"

"Don't insult me! You have no idea what I had to do to get this evidence. I had to join the very crime syndicate inciting this rebellion. I had to fight, and trick, and do horrible things. All so I could learn of their plan and the name of their leader!"

"She speaks the truth, Kohza. I joined the organization alongside her, so I could continue to fulfill my duty as her bodyguard. And when we were discovered, we were marked for death. It has been a harrowing journey home for us. Were it not for these kind strangers, we both would not be here," Igaram spoke up.

Kohza eyed the ragtag group of the Straw Hats. "So, you owe them your life? What price did you offer them?"

"Vivi's our friend. As far as our captain's concerned, that's reason enough to help her," Zoro spoke up, resting a hand on Wado at his waist.

"Like a real man needs a reason to help a lady in need," Sanji muttered, chewing on his toothpick.

"We had to fight members of this syndicate in order to protect Vivi. I know you have no reason to trust us, but we have no affiliation with this country. Surely our word counts for something?" Usopp argued.

"Vivi could be paying you to bear false witness," Kohza fired back.

Vivi reacted as if he'd slapped her. "How dare you? Do you really think that low of me?"

Kohza looked just a mite guilty. "I thought the best of you. And I thought the same of your father. And then he shattered it to pieces."

"But that wasn't him! It was Baroque Works!" Vivi counterred fiercely.

Kohza perked up. "What? Say that again."

"Baroque Works. It's a criminal organization that operates primarily in the first half of Paradise. It's goal to overthrow the crown of Alabasta. They're inciting this rebellion to weaken us. They want you and the Royal Army to bash each other to pieces so their forces can swoop n and take over!" Vivi said passionately. "Why? How do you recognize the name?"

"A week ago, we found a man in the attire of the Royal Army trying to poison our water. But he had a tattoo on his arm with that name as part of it: Baroque Works." Kohza pulled a hand through his hair. "Shit! This actually is starting to sound plausible."

Vivi stepped forward. "I can tell you everything there is to know about Baroque Works. But it won't matter one bit if you don't believe me." Vivi held out her hand. "I'm asking you to trust me, Kohza. Trust that my father is the good man you remember and all these horrible things you think he's done were a frame job. Trust that I'm not making this up. Trust that I want what's best for our country."

Kohza considered her for a long moment. Then he pulled off his glove and shook her hand. "I do trust you, Vivi."

"That's good." Vivi smiled sadly. "Which is why I'm really sorry for what's about to happen."

"Wha…" Kohza's eyes rolled up in his head as he collapsed.

The Rebels in the room panicked. "Leader!"

"Poison!"

"Treachery!"

"Ambush!"

Vivi had her eyes closed. "Take them down," she whispered with a heavy heart.

The Straw Hats put on their bodysuits and charged, taking down all the men in the warehouse in a matter of seconds. Then they sallied forth back into Katorea, eager to hunt down every last villager and Rebel until they all were injected with biomass and entering the Embrace.

* * *

Carue had blown past all the guards in his way to make it all the way to the Throne Room. Then he'd 'quacked' and waved until the King read his note, which was coated with biomass. To the worried Chaka and Pell, it looked as if the King had fainted from the news. Chaka and Pell went down to 'nuzzling' done by Carue. That done, Carue decided to play tag with all the palace staff, sweeping through at near supersonic speeds to deliver biomass. It was amazing what happened when you gave an animal born and bred for sprinting the Shave technique.

The next day, as Rainbase and Katorea awoke in the Embrace, Cobra declared a public feast for all of Alubarna, sending out his cooks to prepare food for everyone in the city. All of it laced with biomass, of course. The excuse was to celebrate the return of Princess Vivi. Even though she wasn't physically present in the city, she still made a number of public appearances. Bentham's Clone-Clone Fruit was put to good use.

The Straw Hats both congregated at Alubarna, taking a day and night to make the journey for both parties. By then, all of the Royal City was in the Embrace, those few that didn't attend the festivities touched or hunted down by those that had and then fallen asleep from a big lunch.

King Cobra shook hands with Crocodile, whom was cleansed of much of his negativity much as Wapol had been. The Warlord would soon be leaving Alabasta, out to scour other parts of Paradise for 'prey'.

Vivi showed Robin the secret entrance to the Poneglyph chamber. Robin read every one of the ancient words. "The Ancient Weapon, Pluton. A warship that could destroy an island with one blast." Robin closed her eyes, tears coming to them. "What horror will we unleash when we have an armada of such ships?"

' _We will use them only in the event of violent resistance, the likelihood of which is reduced every day. Two Warlords, an Emperor with ready plans for two more, a quarter of Marineford taken. In an ideal scenario, we will never need to use them. But better to have and not need than to need and not have.'_

"Very well. It is located at the mouth of the Shandora. Behind the waterfall, there is a door. The combination is described in the Poneglyph. Behind that door, Pluton waits in drydock. The sacred duty of the Nefertari bloodline has been to guard this secret."

' _We will send a party to find and consume it. For now, you should get back to the party.'_

Robin smiled and left the chamber behind, never again to be touched for another generation.

The Straw Hats were showing the Alabastan royalty how a pirate banquet went down. With Crocodile ceasing to cause the drought, it was raining buckets all over the kingdom. There would never be a water shortage again, of course, because Goo could filter seawater, but it was still nice to have some freshwater stored away, especially in Alabastan culture.

After the Straw Hats each had consumed their weight (or several times it, in Luffy's case), they all went to the Royal Bathhouse.

"This is the palace's esteemed bathhouse. We're really only able to use it when it rains," Cobra explained, not that Luffy or Usopp were paying attention. They were too busy gawking at the golden lion faucets or the marble tiles.

Zoro helped Chopper wash his back while Luffy and Usopp messed around in the pool portion. Sanji nudged Igaram with his elbow. "So, where's the women's bath?" the lecher asked.

Luffy turned, for once not wearing his straw hat. "Are you dumb, Sanji? They're on the other side of that wall! Don't you have your Observation up?"

"I was under the impression we were relaxing, rubber idiot," Sanji muttered, even as he scrambled to climb over the wall. Deciding to join in the fun, Usopp, Chopper, Igaram, and even King Cobra joined him. Zoro alone refused to look.

"This feels _so_ good!" Nami moaned as Vivi massaged her back in the steamy air. "I wonder if we can get the Merry to have a bath this big?"

"We would likely have to consume a great deal of biomass. Perhaps all the Sea Kings between here and our next destination," Robin mused, giving herself a massage with her powers.

"This sea is so vast!" Vivi gushed, finally taking a moment to _enjoy_ her wild adventure back home. "We've seen Giants, dinosaurs, sakura bloom in a land of snow! The Grand Line might contain so many more unbelievable things!"

Nami grinned at the younger girl before turning to face the guys peeping on them. "You do realize your daughter is on this side, right?" she called out to Cobra.

"I see two babes I'm _not_ related to on this side as well!" the royal winked.

"Father?!" Vivi screeched, horrified.

Robin stood up, unashamed with her nudity. "I've been working on something. This isn't how I imagined testing it, but it seems a good opportunity." Crossing her arms, Robin intoned "Cuerpo Fleur!" In a flurry of petals, an exact copy of Robin appeared in front of her.

Sanji looked in danger of an aneurysm. "She wouldn't, would she? Oh please, oh please, oh please…"

Both Robins smirked and then the leaned in and kissed.

Sanji, Igaram, Cobra, and Usopp all created craters in the ceiling, so fierce were their nosebleeds. Luffy just laughed at his nakama's antics and Chopper logged the data that human males are very interested in twincest.

The Merry sailed up the Shandora to be closer to the crew. On the backs of the Supersonic Duck Squadron, the Straw Hats returned to their precious ship the next day. They sailed down the river, feeling the well-wishes and farewells of millions of Alabastans as they bid adieu to the heroes of the country, the ones that had protected Princess Vivi, foiled Crocodile's dastardly plan, and most importantly, spread the Embrace.

When they reached open water, they lined up with the closest island Nami could sense, and then they set off, the Alabasta Kingdom and millions of new nakama behind them.


End file.
